When it begins welcoming passengers to the depths of London’s underground next Tuesday, May 24, the new Elizabeth line rail service will mark the end of a mammoth construction story, 13 years in the making.
Built at a cost of £19bn (€22.3bn) and described as “one of the most complex digital railways in the world”, the Elizabeth line will eventually connect central London with commuter towns to the east and west of the city, significantly reducing commuter times for passengers.
The construction of the new rail network has been the largest transport project ever undertaken in the city, with Raharney-based Shay Murtagh Precast having a key role in bringing the project to fruition.
The largest of the contracts awarded to the company was the Crossrail C310 Tunnel, which was entirely manufactured in Raharney.
The company produced almost 30,000 precast concrete tunnel segments to the project which was 5.5km length of tunnel from Plumstead to Woolwich junction, where part of the tunnel was bored beneath the Thames river.