Cable management systems installed in Stepney Green
With less than 18 months until the Crossrail line opens, new images have been released showing engineers working around the clock to install the overhead power system for the new trains.
The images show engineers installing the cabling and power supply system inside the vast tunnels which run for 26 miles beneath the capital.
Each Elizabeth line train will draw power in the tunnels from a rigid “overhead catenary system” including an aluminium conductor bar housing copper wire. The bars are currently being installed in 10m sections.
More than 1,500km of cable is being installed to supply power, lighting and ventilation systems to the new railway – about the equivalent of 100,000 double decker buses.
The main power supply in the tunnels under central London will come from two new bulk supply points, which are being built at each end of the new railway.
The images show work being carried out in the Connaught tunnel in Docklands and the tunnels beneath the River Thames and in Stepney Green
The first Crossrail services began to run between Liverpool Street and Shenfield last month.
The route will officially be named the Elizabeth line when services through central London open in December 2018.
Above and below: Installation of overhead lines in the Connaught Tunnel
Above: The Thames Tunnel
High voltage masts installed at Plumstead
Cabling goes in at the entrance to the Thames Tunnel
