A GGR Rail approved mini spider crane has teamed up with one of the most versatile vacuum lifters on the market to fit fireproof hoarding at Farringdon Train Station as part of the ongoing Crossrail project. Crossrail’s final two tunnelling machines, Elizabeth and Victoria, successfully broke through into the eastern ticket hall at Farringdon station in May 2015; a UNIC URW-095 mini spider crane and a bespoke Aspera 270 below the hook, dual circuit vacuum lifter were on hand to help with the next phase of the works.

Crossrail is the biggest engineering project in Europe and involves creating a 120 km line from Heathrow Airport to Central London and constructing ten new state of the art rail stations. Tunneling began in the summer of 2012 and ended at Farringdon with the breakthrough of tunneling machine Victoria. Eight 1,000 tonne tunneling machines have bored 26 miles or 42 km of new 6.2m diameter rail tunnels under London.
To allow the extensive works in the ticket halls at Farringdon Station to be carried out safely GGR were called upon to install fireproof hoarding throughout the station’s interior. The hoarding panels measured 1.2 metres wide and 8 metres high, weighing in at 250kg each. The Aspera’s 270kg of lifting power and two constant running high volume pumps allowed the textured panels to be handled with ease. The 8 metre length of the panels meant that the lifting prowess of the URW-095 was needed to lift them to the installation point of 5 metres. As the station is so busy all work was carried out during weekend days and nights.

Now that the hoarding is in place construction of the interior walls and floors will take place within both ticket halls at Farringdon Station. In the western ticket hall, construction of the escalator barrel which will lead to platform level is to get underway. The hoarding means that the works can continue on the Crossrail project while the station remains open to passengers. Now that the tunnels are connected, work will continue to build platforms, lay tracks, fit out station structures and install operational systems ready for the new Crossrail trains to start running from 2018. It is anticipated that the completed project will increase passenger flow through Central London by 10%.

GGR Rail in Focus

GGR has vast experience working on rail projects across the UK. Our UNIC spider cranes have undertaken hundreds of lifting projects for Crossrail projects and are the only spider cranes with official Network Rail product acceptance.  UNIC Mini cranes have been used extensively by Crossrail, Network Rail, London Underground and other contractors.

You can see GGR in action on the Crossrail Canary Wharf Station project and even on the BBC’s documentary ‘The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway’.

To find out how GGR can help with your railway infrastructure project contact our friendly team of experts today.