Platforms and Plague Pits The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway


Platforms and Plague Pits

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Underneath the streets of London,

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an army of more than 10,000 workers

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is building the most ambitious railway in Britain for a generation.

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OK!

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Crossrail.

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A new subterranean train line

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connecting Heathrow Airport in the west

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to the booming city in the east.

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Constructing Crossrail is like undertaking open-heart surgery

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on a patient whilst that patient is awake.

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Costing almost £15 billion,

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constructing this 120km link

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is the biggest engineering project in Europe.

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When we go through this gate, you'll see it's a very different world

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on the other side of the fence.

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It's a strange, dark world.

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Not many people get to see it at this stage.

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One of the greatest challenges -

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building ten cavernous stations.

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A good place to put your worst enemy, isn't it?

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It's difficult to appreciate the scale.

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The trains will carry 1,500 people.

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The station is designed to deal with 32,000 people at peak.

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Working in the heart of the city, engineers are uncovering its past.

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We have come across some human remains within the shaft.

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It's a full skeleton at the minute.

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And face a constant battle to keep London moving.

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This used to be a bowling green for the City of London.

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It was somewhat of an oasis beforehand,

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in the middle of this area.

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But I plug myself into my headphones

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to try and drown out some of the noise.

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This is the inside story of the epic endeavour

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to build London's new underground.

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London.

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Britain's business and financial heart.

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London has two banking districts.

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The historic Square Mile...

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..and Canary Wharf, five kilometres to the east.

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Crossrail's route will tie these hubs together,

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fuelling economic growth.

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The new railway will pass right across London,

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cutting the commute from Heathrow Airport in the west

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into the City to 30 minutes.

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It will connect key mainline train stations

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with major shopping districts,

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and the new City at Canary Wharf.

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The 40 worksites needed to build this railway

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are bound to cause some disruption.

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I'm sure when it's up and running, it'll be a marvellous thing.

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But I'm not sure full consideration's been given

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to the traffic.

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It just makes more congestion

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and it's the person in the cab that pays, cos they're sitting in traffic.

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London's a funny place, man.

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It can run smoothly, then gridlock for no reason.

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Crossrail's done a good share of that, a good 60%-70%.

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I'll probably never even use it!

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But Crossrail estimates that 200 million passengers a year will.

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One of the biggest tasks facing engineers

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is to construct the ten new central stations.

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Canary Wharf will be the largest on the line.

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Leading a team of over 400 workers here is Michael Bryant.

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What we're creating here is a passenger-handling facility

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that will deal with between five and ten people per second.

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I'm getting towards the end of my career now

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and I can't really think of a better one to go out on than this,

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to be quite frank.

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Employment here has quadrupled over the last decade.

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The new railway will help ease the pressure.

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This is my third tour of duty, if you might say, at Canary Wharf.

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I was here on phase one when I did a lot of the early work

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on the logistics and I was responsible for redesigning

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the DLR station and delivering that.

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And it really just instilled into me how important

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infrastructure and transport is to the future of developments.

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Canary Wharf's station will be 250m long.

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And Michael's team is constructing it underwater, in a dock.

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They sank a vast, watertight, concrete box

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to form the station's walls.

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Concrete pillars anchor it into the dock bed.

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They drained out more than 40 Olympic swimming pools of water,

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then dug down to create four floors below water level

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and two floors above.

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Now the team face a series of challenges

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to transform this concrete box into a station.

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First they must build the platforms.

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Then install the escalators and ventilation system.

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Their toughest task -

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assemble its unique roof from 1,500 timber beams

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that will house a public garden open 24 hours a day.

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The roof of this £500 million station has been designed

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by world-renowned architects Foster and Partners,

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famous for the City's Millennium Bridge and Gherkin.

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Canary Wharf Group, who own this site,

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are investing £150 million to get the station they want.

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The brief to Foster, which was probably quite a brave...

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brave way to go, actually, was we want something

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that's totally different from everything else on the Canary Wharf.

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And I think we've got that, so we're very pleased.

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The roof will be curving and arching up over, like a curved apex.

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It'll be spectacular.

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It'll be like a giant conservatory or orangery.

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That's the feel we've all been aiming for.

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The 200-year-old West India Docks were once thriving quaysides.

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-ARCHIVE:

-'These Docks originally had the monopoly of handling ships

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'and cargos from the West Indies.

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'Bananas for small boys, Saturday's picnic,

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'or maybe the monkeys at the zoo.'

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Fruit was off-loaded here from the Canary Islands,

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giving the wharf its name.

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But as ships grew in size and container ports took over,

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the docks fell into disuse.

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This vast area of land was reborn in the 1980s

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as the new home of the financial services industry.

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The site around Canary Wharf is still expanding fast today.

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28 metres below water level,

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lies the 21,000-cubic-metre heart of this new structure.

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Four years from now,

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24 trains an hour will be pulling up at the platforms here.

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It's difficult to appreciate the scale of it.

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The trains will carry 1,500 people.

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The station is designed to deal with 32,000 people at peak

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and I've got to build a complete platform.

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That's my next objective.

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Before Michael's team can start work on the platforms,

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they must shift two giant visitors.

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The machine you're standing next to is known as Elizabeth.

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She's a tunnel boring machine, 147 metres long,

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weighs about 1,000 tonnes.

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Whilst I'm very pleased to see Elizabeth here

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and indeed her sister, who's over my left shoulder, called Victoria,

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I should be even more delighted when they've both gone

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because what I want to do is get this space back to do my work.

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The two massive digging machines have broken through

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into one end of Canary Wharf Station.

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Now they need hauling through to the other end of the station box,

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so they can continue tunnelling towards Central London.

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Checking that their transit runs smoothly

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is second-generation tunneller Robert Bermingham.

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I am one of many Berminghams

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in the underground, or who have been underground,

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but my dad and my brother currently work

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on different sections of the project.

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The only reason my brother and myself are in tunnelling

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is because our father was.

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These bad boys here are what I like to call God's roller skates.

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It's actually a lifting bracket that will lift the machine up

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using these jacks.

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There is then a propulsion ram at the back of the machine.

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There's no margin for error, as you can imagine.

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If one of these was to roll off these gantries,

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you're in a world of pain.

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In charge of driving the machine through the box...

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I think so.

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..is Tommy Schoppe.

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It's a brand-new system.

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Testing by doing.

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The machine, it go only this way.

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And when you drive too much, it fall down.

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That is a big problem.

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-OK, boys, we're ready to move?

-Ready to go.

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It's OK!

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Rock'n'roll.

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As the jacks push the machine forward,

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the crew must extend the conveyor belt that runs out the rear.

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When digging, the two-kilometre-long belt shuttles earth

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dug by the machine out of the tunnel.

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Four metres!

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We've come through the station here at Canary Wharf

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and now we're breaking through to the next section of tunnel,

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which will take us to Whitechapel,

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from Whitechapel to Liverpool Street,

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and from Liverpool Street we'll go on then to Farringdon.

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Three stops west on the edge of London's historic Square Mile,

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engineers are already hard at work

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building a new £440 million station at Farringdon.

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Built from steel and stone,

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Farringdon Station will connect

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the Tube, Thameslink and Crossrail together.

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150,000 people will use it every day,

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making it one of Britain's busiest stations.

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Historic buildings surround this area.

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The Charterhouse is a Tudor mansion

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built on the site of a 14th-century monastery.

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Engineers are digging deep shafts near these listed buildings

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to pump grout beneath the foundations to stop them sinking

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as they build Farringdon Station underneath.

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The excavations have led to a grim discovery.

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We have come across some human remains within the shaft.

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We started off with a skull and then found a shoulder section,

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and it's a full skeleton at the minute.

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That's what we uncovered so far.

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I saw part of a skull come up so I got in,

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got my trowel out, had a look round, and I found one.

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Then there were two more,

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aligned east-west,

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which is what we'd expect from a medieval inhumation.

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We can only really tell that they're adult inhumations.

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In terms of what sex they are, it's...

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it's very difficult to tell when you're digging them up.

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The skull is really fragile.

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It almost crumbles the second your trowel gets anywhere near it.

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Some sites have up to 22 extra weeks built into their schedule

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to accommodate archaeological investigations like this.

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Crossrail's in-house archaeologist, Jay Carver,

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has just four weeks before engineering work must resume here.

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It's exciting. This is one of the first times

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within this immediate area

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that we've actually found several skeletons together.

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We know from historic maps and other historic records,

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that, within this area, was one of the emergency burial grounds

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set out in the mid-14th century.

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But it's never been constructed on, it's never been built on,

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so it's very rare that there's an opportunity

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to really look at the archaeology of this site in detail.

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The graves could be linked to the Black Death

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that killed up to 60% of Europe's population.

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During the 14th century, at particular plague outbreaks,

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half the population of London was wiped out.

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It was a very serious time

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and an awful lot of burying going on.

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They'll be taken back to the Museum of London labs,

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so there'll be a very close scientific inspection

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of the skeletons to find out as much as we possibly can

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about these individuals and how they got here.

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Certainly very exciting for what we're going to find out about

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what happened here 600 years ago.

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Detailed forensic analysis will reveal if Jay and the team

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have found London's long-lost plague pit.

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Three stops back east at Canary Wharf...

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..construction work is beginning on the most complex part

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of Crossrail's station here -

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its roof.

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This ambitious, 1,000-tonne canopy will be built

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from 1,500 timber beams...

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..joined together using 860 steel connectors.

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The wooden frame will be covered by air-filled plastic cushions,

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enclosing the rooftop garden.

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Overseeing the German specialists,

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who have six months to assemble this giant 3D jigsaw...

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HE SPEAKS IN GERMAN

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..is Irishman Phil Duffy.

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One or two of our lads don't speak much English,

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so it helps a little bit to be able to speak a small bit.

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HE SPEAKS IN GERMAN

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THEY SPEAK IN GERMAN

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OK, Prem, up on one on the hoist. Up on one.

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Phil's not the only Duffy on the job.

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My dad's off fitting one of the timber beams at the moment.

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Slave driver, so I am. He gets the brunt of it.

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I always had an interest in following in his footsteps, I suppose.

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Phil's first milestone - assemble the roof's very first arch.

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If we don't have these in the exact right position,

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the timber elements won't fit.

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Tiny bit down?

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Everything has to be within the millimetre.

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This is like the keystone.

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The big crane will lift this in

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and hopefully then it will slot in to the exact right position.

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If this aligns up, the whole structure will follow through,

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so this will be one of the most critical lifts of the whole thing.

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Pre-fabricating a structure away from site

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and then assembling it as a kit saves time and money.

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It's a technique that's been used to startling effect in the past.

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To house the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London's Hyde Park,

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engineers designed The Crystal Palace to be built this way.

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More than 1,000 cast iron beams and 300,000 sheets of glass

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were cut precisely to size in Birmingham,

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then transported to the site.

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The hall was big enough to house six cathedrals the size of St Paul's

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and it took just seven months to erect.

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Each batch of wooden beams for Canary Wharf Station roof

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is prefabricated at this factory in Austria.

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No, I'm not a timber geek, I'm just a regular guy.

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In charge is project manager Daniel Nieberle.

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I always wanted to build timber houses when I was a kid,

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so I started

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studying timber engineering and ended up

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as a project engineer for big-scale glulam projects in the UK.

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Glulam is short for glue-laminated timber.

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The beams are formed of thousands of planks,

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glued together and cut to size.

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We get spruce planks delivered from the sawmill

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and we put those into a kiln.

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Then we get dried down planks into our production line.

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Workers scan each plank for imperfections

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that could create weak spots

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and remove those not up to scratch before gluing.

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Glue will be applied onto several planks

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and then all the necessary planks required for one glulam beam

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will be put into a big press

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where they will be compressed till the resin has cured.

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It's immensely strong.

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The weight to strength ratio is bigger than with concrete.

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Once dry, they cut and sand the beams down to size.

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This is actually already a proper glulam beam at the moment,

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it just has to be made good looking.

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Now the beams start to look really sexy.

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Oh, yeah.

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We've got wood.

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That's a top view of our Crossrail station roof.

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We could actually play Twister.

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Applying those steel parts onto the timber beams is the final step.

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All that's left afterwards is wrapping them up

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and put them on the truck over to London.

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Have you got a knife on that little Swiss thing of yours?

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The roof's first arch needs a keystone,

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a two-tonne timber unit that will join the structure together.

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We're just about to put the centre section in place

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using the tower crane.

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We'll get everybody else out the way and hopefully it will go well.

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As you slew round, mate, that should stay same orientation.

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Heads up, heads up!

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Nice and steady, inches at a time, please, mate.

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Nice and steady. Come down on your wire.

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The keystone is in position, but it's not a perfect fit.

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Just trying to locate the bolts on each corner.

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It's literally millimetres out.

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If we have an issue here at one of these timber structures here,

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it means it exaggerates as you go along the building

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and our connections won't go in correctly.

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For alignment they have to be perfect, within maybe five mil.

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Hit it properly, Robin!

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RAY LAUGHS

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You can't beat the sledgehammer at the end of the day.

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Yeah, that's it. Fairly chuffed, yeah.

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Beautiful, beautiful! I like the way you work it.

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Oh, yeah, I think I should have been a photographer. What do you think?

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If you stand back and look at it, you can see the whole arch

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from one side to the other side now, which is perfect.

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This is a massive structure.

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Like, when it goes to plan, you can't be happier.

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Looking more than good, looking brilliant.

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First milestone complete.

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1,400 pieces of the jigsaw to go.

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28m below dock level,

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Crossrail's tunnelling machines have left the station's giant box.

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Now contractors can get to work fitting it out.

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First they must build the 240-metre-long platforms...

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..then install the building's ventilation system

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and nine escalators that will shuttle passengers down

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from the ticket hall to the platform level.

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Heading up the team is construction manager James Goonan.

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I've never built a train station before,

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never mind one in a dock, underwater.

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One of the big issues is actually getting our materials down here.

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We've got what we call a mole hole, which is the hole up there,

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which goes up to the surface level.

0:21:580:22:01

Without full access to the mole hole,

0:22:010:22:03

we can't carry out any works down at this level.

0:22:030:22:05

There's no other way to get materials down other than the mole hole.

0:22:050:22:08

James must thread 580 pre-cast concrete slabs down

0:22:090:22:13

through this mole hole to the basement, to assemble the platforms.

0:22:130:22:18

It won't be easy.

0:22:180:22:20

He's just following us with it, where's he going?

0:22:200:22:22

THEY LAUGH

0:22:220:22:24

So, how many more panels you got to go in before the escalators arrive?

0:22:250:22:28

There's basically 150 left to go in from these.

0:22:280:22:31

It's already looking good down there. It's taking shape.

0:22:330:22:35

The pre-cast is coming down as I am talking to you, Adam.

0:22:370:22:41

The gantry crane's going ten hours a day, six days a week,

0:22:410:22:45

and it's the lifeblood of getting the platform built.

0:22:450:22:48

Minus four, please, Rocky.

0:22:490:22:51

James has just six weeks to get the platforms in place

0:23:010:23:05

before the escalators arrive.

0:23:050:23:06

The mole hole's the only way to get the escalators down

0:23:090:23:11

due to the size and the weight of them.

0:23:110:23:13

It'd be nice to have a bigger hole.

0:23:130:23:15

Two stops west of Canary Wharf,

0:23:230:23:25

engineers are constructing Crossrail's new station

0:23:250:23:28

at Liverpool Street.

0:23:280:23:29

The eastern ticket hall will sit 40 metres underground.

0:23:310:23:35

It's one of many sites across London

0:23:350:23:37

offering a portal into the city's past

0:23:370:23:39

for Crossrail's lead archaeologist, Jay Carver.

0:23:390:23:42

We're just outside the Roman and medieval city wall.

0:23:450:23:48

The historical significance of this site

0:23:490:23:52

is it is the site of the burial ground of St Bethlem Hospital,

0:23:520:23:56

which from 1600s through to about 1800

0:23:560:24:00

was located just nearby in Finsbury Circus.

0:24:000:24:03

Nicknamed Bedlam,

0:24:050:24:06

Bethlem hospital had treated mental illness since the 13th century.

0:24:060:24:10

You got any idea how many individuals

0:24:140:24:17

we've taken out in this small hole so far?

0:24:170:24:19

Um...more than 50.

0:24:190:24:21

The burial ground, being a post-medieval site,

0:24:230:24:26

is very likely to be overlying earlier levels from the medieval

0:24:260:24:30

and possibly even Roman periods as well.

0:24:300:24:34

Digging deeper, the team uncover Roman skulls and pottery...

0:24:340:24:37

Oh, my God!

0:24:380:24:40

Got bones inside it!

0:24:400:24:42

..washed down to this site by an ancient river, the Walbrook.

0:24:420:24:46

We've got very many sites coming up

0:24:480:24:51

where we'll be doing this kind of investigation.

0:24:510:24:54

So we'll be undertaking works all across the job,

0:24:540:24:57

for every Crossrail site.

0:24:570:24:59

Liverpool Street Station will be one of several new Crossrail stations

0:25:040:25:07

serving London's traditional banking district.

0:25:070:25:09

Space here is at a premium.

0:25:120:25:13

To build the station, engineers had no option

0:25:150:25:18

but to commandeer London's oldest park, dating back to 1606,

0:25:180:25:23

Finsbury Circus.

0:25:230:25:25

They will need this area until 2018 for access

0:25:260:25:29

down to the station work site underground...

0:25:290:25:32

..a decision that's not proved popular with City workers.

0:25:330:25:36

It's really detrimental.

0:25:370:25:39

It has an adverse effect on environment,

0:25:390:25:42

and because we enjoy coming here to eat here.

0:25:420:25:45

People come to work, they want to have a healthy life!

0:25:450:25:47

-CONSTRUCTION NOISE

-It was somewhat of an oasis beforehand,

0:25:470:25:50

in the middle of this area,

0:25:500:25:52

but as you can hear, it's not really having that effect any more.

0:25:520:25:55

It is annoying. It's only five years.

0:25:570:26:00

In the grand scheme of things, it's not the end of the world, so...

0:26:000:26:03

Finsbury Circus is the subterranean gateway

0:26:040:26:07

for construction manager Jules Boyd and his crew.

0:26:070:26:11

This used to be a bowling green for the City of London

0:26:110:26:13

and we're going to put it back like that when we're finished.

0:26:130:26:16

A lot of people have likened this to an ant hill,

0:26:160:26:18

where you've got very small surface, sort of a lot of busyness,

0:26:180:26:22

but underneath, it's a whole network of tunnels.

0:26:220:26:25

Underneath the City,

0:26:270:26:29

Crossrail is carving out ticket halls and walkways

0:26:290:26:32

to create the new station.

0:26:320:26:33

Longer than two football pitches, the platforms connect

0:26:350:26:38

Moorgate Tube Station to the existing Liverpool Street Station

0:26:380:26:41

in the east.

0:26:410:26:43

Over a kilometre of winding passageways need burrowing out

0:26:460:26:49

to link the platforms together.

0:26:490:26:51

It's a strange, dark world.

0:27:030:27:05

Not many people get to see it at this stage either.

0:27:050:27:09

A little bit more work to do to make it passenger-friendly, I must admit.

0:27:090:27:12

It will look very different from this, I assure you,

0:27:140:27:17

and it hopefully will be quieter!

0:27:170:27:19

Jules' team use excavators to enlarge a pilot tunnel,

0:27:210:27:25

creating vast, underground spaces that will become the platforms.

0:27:250:27:28

Once dug out, they spray the clay walls with special concrete

0:27:300:27:34

called shotcrete.

0:27:340:27:36

It contains steel fibres that make it extra tough.

0:27:360:27:39

You can see the fibres here, which are the reinforcing things.

0:27:420:27:45

Don't put your hand on there, you'll get...like a porcupine.

0:27:450:27:49

All right, Jez!

0:27:490:27:51

The spray gun fires the concrete out of the hose

0:27:520:27:55

at over 100 metres per second,

0:27:550:27:57

turning the steel fibres into bullets.

0:27:570:27:59

You wouldn't want to be hit by it anyway,

0:28:020:28:04

steel fibres protruding from you.

0:28:040:28:06

Jules' second big city station build is one stop east, at Whitechapel.

0:28:110:28:15

I come down here quite often.

0:28:200:28:21

You find all sorts of fruit and veg that you've never seen before.

0:28:210:28:26

Most people walk along here and they see just the blue hoarding

0:28:260:28:29

and then some strange buildings up here,

0:28:290:28:31

and when we go through this gate,

0:28:310:28:33

you'll see it's a very different world on the other side of the fence.

0:28:330:28:36

Stretching out beneath the ground at Whitechapel

0:28:380:28:41

will be 640 metres of platforms.

0:28:410:28:45

Today, Jules is preparing for a major milestone -

0:28:480:28:52

the arrival of a tunnel boring machine

0:28:520:28:53

that will break through into the station,

0:28:530:28:55

connecting Whitechapel to the rest of the network.

0:28:550:28:59

This is where the TBM is heading towards us right now.

0:28:590:29:02

This is the bit we have to have done and it has to be right,

0:29:040:29:07

so there's not a chance of a big slab of shotcrete wall

0:29:070:29:11

falling into the tunnel of anything dramatic.

0:29:110:29:14

The end of Whitechapel's platform tunnel is rounded rather than flat.

0:29:180:29:22

If the tunnelling machine breaks through this thin wall,

0:29:240:29:28

it could damage the platform roof, causing up to a metre of cracking.

0:29:280:29:33

To prevent this, the team has built a solid concrete plug.

0:29:330:29:36

This reinforces the station walls.

0:29:380:29:40

But tougher than London clay may make the final drive

0:29:420:29:46

into the platform harder going for the tunnellers.

0:29:460:29:48

It's quite exciting, it's actually coming to fruition now.

0:29:540:29:58

Then we'll hit the wall.

0:29:580:29:59

There's communication so they can speak directly

0:30:030:30:05

with the TBM driver from this tunnel.

0:30:050:30:07

In the unlikely event that it's coming through over here,

0:30:070:30:10

they could say stop, for example.

0:30:100:30:12

On the other side of the wall, inside the tunnel boring machine,

0:30:140:30:18

Dave Shepherd and Paul Haycroft

0:30:180:30:20

drive the cutterhead into the concrete plug.

0:30:200:30:23

We can go up to 30.

0:30:270:30:30

The heads not liking being in...

0:30:300:30:34

Complete foam concrete.

0:30:340:30:35

We've probably got about four metres plus of this material to cut through

0:30:370:30:40

before we appear in the station.

0:30:400:30:42

The heat from cutting through the tough concrete

0:30:450:30:47

is beginning to cause serious problems.

0:30:470:30:49

The crew pump extra water into the cutterhead to prevent overheating.

0:30:510:30:54

But this is creating a troublesome concrete soup.

0:30:560:30:59

I see on the belt there's a lot of slop going up the TBM belt.

0:31:010:31:05

So for all the modern technology,

0:31:080:31:11

you'll see here that occasionally we have to resort

0:31:110:31:15

to traditional hand methods.

0:31:150:31:17

It's always quite exciting.

0:31:240:31:26

Everyone likes a TBM breakthrough, don't they?

0:31:260:31:28

If it's in the right place. I think these guys back here,

0:31:280:31:30

the surveyors, are looking a little bit nervous.

0:31:300:31:32

We should have had a little sweepstake before this.

0:31:320:31:35

We could have all put our Xs on.

0:31:350:31:37

Like pinning the...like pinning the tail on the donkey

0:31:370:31:40

Or spot the ball.

0:31:400:31:41

SQUEAKING

0:31:410:31:43

I swear the noise is coming from the right-hand side

0:31:430:31:45

rather than the middle, but...

0:31:450:31:47

While the tunnelling machine battles the heat,

0:32:000:32:03

all Jules and his team can do is wait.

0:32:030:32:06

One stop back east at Canary Wharf,

0:32:170:32:20

the new station's roof is slowly taking shape.

0:32:200:32:23

When complete, the entire building will be longer than its neighbour,

0:32:240:32:27

One Canada Square, laid on its side.

0:32:270:32:30

The sheer scale of the station

0:32:340:32:36

creates unique problems for its engineers.

0:32:360:32:38

During the daytime, as it heats up,

0:32:410:32:43

when the sun's on the building,

0:32:430:32:44

it will try to expand and then at night-time it will try to contract.

0:32:440:32:48

And if the building was a single structure,

0:32:480:32:50

the movements would be so large

0:32:500:32:52

that the building would actually try and tear itself to pieces.

0:32:520:32:55

So we've split it into three sections.

0:32:550:32:58

And that means that they can move relative to each other

0:32:580:33:01

without causing any problems.

0:33:010:33:03

They are kind of alive, yeah. It's quite a living, breathing thing.

0:33:030:33:07

Most of the station is built from reinforced concrete.

0:33:080:33:11

That's except for this stretch at the east end of the structure.

0:33:130:33:16

It's made from steel and passes over a road.

0:33:160:33:19

The steelwork also needs to take the weight of the gardens above,

0:33:210:33:25

which causes problems.

0:33:250:33:26

Steel behaves very differently to concrete.

0:33:270:33:29

It could be a problem. It's something that has to be allowed for

0:33:290:33:32

in the design of the roof because otherwise

0:33:320:33:34

the roof isn't going to behave as it's designed.

0:33:340:33:36

This steel section will be more flexible

0:33:390:33:41

than the concrete either side.

0:33:410:33:44

If the team built the roof across the steel,

0:33:440:33:47

then added the soil and trees afterwards,

0:33:470:33:50

the extra weight could cause the steel to sag,

0:33:500:33:53

pulling the timber roof down.

0:33:530:33:55

So before they build across this section, they must pre-stress it,

0:33:580:34:03

loading it with 300 tonnes to simulate the weight of the gardens.

0:34:030:34:07

Only then can they build the roof.

0:34:070:34:09

When they remove the weight,

0:34:120:34:13

the steel will temporarily spring back up

0:34:130:34:16

until they landscape this area, which will push the steel back down,

0:34:160:34:20

leaving the roof line perfectly level.

0:34:200:34:22

We needed 300 tonnes. 300 tonnes is quite a lot of weight to add.

0:34:240:34:28

But it needed to be done in a way

0:34:280:34:30

that we could take it off easily afterwards.

0:34:300:34:32

So we came up with the idea of using paddling pools

0:34:320:34:34

and it looked kind of cool having a load of swimming pools

0:34:340:34:37

on top of the roof.

0:34:370:34:38

They went on in August, so it looked quite inviting at the time.

0:34:380:34:41

Now it's November time, it's not quite so nice.

0:34:410:34:43

You can see the water here, actually. It's quite manky.

0:34:430:34:47

Now the steelwork is preloaded with the swimming pools,

0:34:470:34:50

it's safe to build the roof on top of it.

0:34:500:34:53

You're now pretty certain that will fit in

0:34:530:34:55

-with all the glulam that you've got.

-Yeah.

0:34:550:34:57

With the pools in place, Phil's crew can continue

0:35:000:35:03

piecing together the roof across the steel section of the station.

0:35:030:35:06

We have five mil tolerance to play with.

0:35:070:35:11

I'll adjust it, and then you can come back and re-survey it.

0:35:110:35:14

-OK.

-Make sure it's all right.

0:35:140:35:15

With another 200 pieces of the jigsaw locked together,

0:35:170:35:21

they can pull the plug on the pools.

0:35:210:35:23

The floor is going to lift very slightly

0:35:300:35:32

and it's going to take the roof up with it.

0:35:320:35:34

And then when we add the park landscape on later,

0:35:340:35:37

it'll push it back down and the roof won't have any extra stress in it.

0:35:370:35:41

At the new Farringdon Station site, Jay Carver's team of archaeologists

0:35:470:35:51

have uncovered 25 skeletons.

0:35:510:35:54

They think this was the site of an emergency burial ground

0:35:570:36:00

for victims of the Black Death and are waiting for confirmation

0:36:000:36:03

that they've found London's long-lost plague pit.

0:36:030:36:06

This burial ground has long been referenced in historical documents.

0:36:070:36:10

I mean, literally for 600 years it's been talked about,

0:36:100:36:13

but has never been found.

0:36:130:36:15

We're hoping to find out some crucial questions

0:36:150:36:18

about those skeletons we found -

0:36:180:36:19

precisely what date they are, can they be linked

0:36:190:36:23

to the 14th-century outbreak of Black Death?

0:36:230:36:27

Jay's sent the skeletons to bone expert Don Walker

0:36:310:36:35

for forensic analysis.

0:36:350:36:37

So, this is one of our individuals from Charterhouse Square.

0:36:380:36:41

Yeah, this is one of the ones we've been working on, one of the 25.

0:36:410:36:46

You will see nothing on the skeleton of a Black Death victim

0:36:460:36:50

that reflects that disease.

0:36:500:36:52

Right, so we have to look much closer, in microscopic...

0:36:520:36:55

Yes. So what we do is sample the teeth.

0:36:550:36:57

The teeth are a micro-bacterial time capsule.

0:36:590:37:02

The plague's DNA becomes trapped in the roots.

0:37:020:37:04

We sent off a tooth to have a look.

0:37:060:37:09

They sequenced the DNA and compared them to various diseases,

0:37:090:37:15

including Yersinia pestis, the plague,

0:37:150:37:18

and they found some matches.

0:37:180:37:20

It's pretty incontrovertible, really, that that's what we're looking at

0:37:200:37:24

with these 25 skeletons.

0:37:240:37:25

It seems... The evidence seems to fit with that, certainly.

0:37:250:37:27

The chances are if they were exposed to it,

0:37:270:37:29

they probably developed symptoms and probably died.

0:37:290:37:32

We can't be absolutely sure, but we know they were exposed to it.

0:37:320:37:35

This individual was a probable male.

0:37:360:37:39

We also want to look at the age to see at what age they died.

0:37:390:37:43

Once you're grown, it's to do with wear and tear.

0:37:440:37:47

Things we would look at would be the joint surfaces.

0:37:470:37:50

We think this person probably died between the ages of 26 and 35.

0:37:520:37:56

We have to be doing some research to look at things like strontium

0:37:590:38:03

and carbon and nitrogen,

0:38:030:38:05

not only to see where they may have come from,

0:38:050:38:07

but what their diet may have been.

0:38:070:38:09

And what we've found is there seems to be a mixture

0:38:090:38:12

of people who were born in London and people who were born elsewhere.

0:38:120:38:16

And, of course, London was a mixture of people who were born there

0:38:160:38:20

and people who migrated in, like today.

0:38:200:38:24

By that time, the 14th century, massive trade

0:38:240:38:26

and exchange all over Europe and even further afield.

0:38:260:38:29

We know, of course, the Black Death made its way by those processes.

0:38:290:38:33

-We've got a huge amount to write up and publish now.

-Yes.

0:38:330:38:36

Jay and the archaeologists have cracked the mystery

0:38:380:38:41

of the Farringdon bodies.

0:38:410:38:43

We've finally found evidence for this emergency burial ground

0:38:430:38:46

set out in 1348, more than 600 hundred years ago.

0:38:460:38:50

We've got an incredibly clear picture now of these individuals

0:38:500:38:53

and how they ended up in Charterhouse Square.

0:38:530:38:56

I think it's a highly significant find.

0:38:560:38:59

Three stops east, back at the new Canary Wharf Station,

0:39:090:39:13

with the platforms almost complete,

0:39:130:39:15

workers are installing the ventilation system.

0:39:150:39:18

The western elevation has three gaping holes,

0:39:200:39:23

behind which three fans will sit.

0:39:230:39:26

Bespoke stainless steel covers

0:39:260:39:28

will hide this backroom machinery from view.

0:39:280:39:30

The job of installing them falls to snappy dresser Neil Dutton.

0:39:320:39:36

Yeah, I've got this bit of a thing about shirts.

0:39:370:39:40

I get them custom made, what can I say?

0:39:400:39:42

Erm, I've got a big neck and a little body.

0:39:420:39:45

I'm probably the best-dressed construction guy on site.

0:39:450:39:47

We have been employed to clad the whole external section of this

0:39:470:39:52

with a stainless steel surround

0:39:520:39:53

to get to a finished product on the outside,

0:39:530:39:56

making it look sexy and pretty.

0:39:560:39:57

The station's ventilation system is critical to its operation.

0:40:010:40:04

Crossrail is spending £26 million on platform edge doors

0:40:060:40:10

to separate passengers from trains

0:40:100:40:12

and stop litter being sucked onto the tracks.

0:40:120:40:15

But the doors cause a problem.

0:40:160:40:18

A train rushing through a tunnel creates an almost perfect seal,

0:40:190:40:23

forcing air in front of it.

0:40:230:40:25

As trains pull into Canary Wharf Station, pressure will build

0:40:260:40:30

and needs releasing to avoid damaging the platform doors.

0:40:300:40:34

So a network of ventilation shafts not only draws away brake heat

0:40:350:40:39

but also allows the air to escape.

0:40:390:40:42

Three giant fans at each end of the platform

0:40:420:40:46

will help pull the excess air out to surface level.

0:40:460:40:49

This should relieve the pressure

0:40:510:40:52

and protect the platforms as trains arrive.

0:40:520:40:55

Neil's team must crane the vent covers down from the roof,

0:40:580:41:01

then winch them up into position.

0:41:010:41:03

OK, and we're not going to leave any rough edges on this, are we?

0:41:050:41:07

I don't want any damage or scratches. That's the only thing.

0:41:070:41:10

Exactly not. They cost quite a lot of money.

0:41:100:41:12

I think each frame is probably, with the stainless steel...

0:41:120:41:16

75,000 a piece.

0:41:160:41:18

We've never done anything like this before. It's new to us.

0:41:180:41:21

Gentlemen, this is a very important lift today.

0:41:220:41:25

I don't care about time, I care about precision and safety,

0:41:250:41:28

so let's just make sure we do this right.

0:41:280:41:31

Before we do, I need signatures on the back of this, please.

0:41:310:41:33

The crew must sign up to confirm they understand the lift plan.

0:41:350:41:38

Have we got anyone taller?

0:41:380:41:40

There's nothing better than seeing you bent over.

0:41:400:41:42

Yeah, we're good?

0:41:500:41:51

It's absolutely awesome.

0:41:540:41:56

Guys, we need to get hold of those lines!

0:41:590:42:02

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

0:42:020:42:03

There was a little tight spot there when it was up, as you saw.

0:42:080:42:11

That was the most concerning part.

0:42:110:42:13

That's it.

0:42:130:42:15

Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's it.

0:42:150:42:17

Pull his ass in, in over there.

0:42:170:42:20

Are we on?

0:42:200:42:21

We're good. That's the easy part. Yeah.

0:42:240:42:28

With the first covers down, they can hoist them into position.

0:42:280:42:31

A winch, pulley and crane hold the steel in place.

0:42:340:42:38

We see them as six halves.

0:42:410:42:43

They're actually three units, but they're six halves.

0:42:430:42:45

It does look quite spectacular when...

0:42:450:42:47

DRILL ROARS

0:42:470:42:50

..when you actually see them all completed.

0:42:500:42:52

It's going to be quite iconic when people are actually...

0:42:520:42:54

DRILL ROARS

0:42:540:42:57

..when people are actually walking by.

0:42:590:43:00

DRILL ROARS

0:43:000:43:02

# Get down with that! #

0:43:110:43:13

The gap to squeeze in the final vent cover is tight.

0:43:140:43:17

I tell you, when that thing's in there,

0:43:170:43:19

it's going to look bang-on, you know?

0:43:190:43:21

Disaster already. Milo! You never checked it, did you?

0:43:290:43:33

The holes in the bottom, they drilled too small, didn't they?

0:43:350:43:38

Ken, what's going on?

0:43:380:43:40

We need a jack.

0:43:400:43:42

-You need a jack?

-Yeah.

-Why, it's got to be lifted?

0:43:420:43:45

The bolt holes for the last section don't line up.

0:43:450:43:48

It's actually just, just out of alignment.

0:43:500:43:54

Every time you're dealing with steel

0:43:540:43:55

or you're dealing with any sort of raw material, there's movement.

0:43:550:43:59

They need some muscle to force it into position.

0:43:590:44:03

One, two, three!

0:44:030:44:05

This is the first time it's happened on the job.

0:44:070:44:09

It's not happened on any of the other ones.

0:44:090:44:11

That's construction. It happens.

0:44:110:44:12

The team tighten their nuts...

0:44:220:44:24

..securing the final vent cover into place.

0:44:270:44:29

This is stainless steel and it's absolute perfection.

0:44:340:44:37

Absolutely awesome.

0:44:380:44:39

And it's just got such sexy lines to it.

0:44:420:44:44

I mean, every building's got to have the sexy lines

0:44:460:44:48

and those stainless steel definitely got some sexy lines.

0:44:480:44:51

With the station's platforms assembled,

0:45:090:45:11

the first escalators arrive for installation.

0:45:110:45:13

The escalators are one of the key operational components

0:45:180:45:22

of the station. They're mission critical, if you like.

0:45:220:45:24

I think of this station as a people-processing facility.

0:45:240:45:28

People need to get in it, through it and safely out of it.

0:45:280:45:32

London's first subterranean railways

0:45:330:45:36

ran just a few steps down beneath the ground.

0:45:360:45:39

But as tube lines were dug deeper, engineers needed fast ways

0:45:410:45:44

to shuttle people down to the platforms.

0:45:440:45:47

Filing people in and out of elevators proved too slow.

0:45:490:45:52

One of the earliest solutions - a spiral escalator

0:45:540:45:57

installed at Holloway Road tube station in 1906.

0:45:570:46:00

The first underground escalators, as we know them today,

0:46:030:46:07

didn't arrive until 1911.

0:46:070:46:08

Nine escalators will take passengers down from Canary Wharf's ticket hall

0:46:100:46:14

to platform level.

0:46:140:46:15

Squeezing these machines down to the basement

0:46:190:46:21

through James' mole hole will be a challenge.

0:46:210:46:24

They come down on the gantry crane so there's four lifts,

0:46:250:46:28

the smallest ones are just under 2.1 tonne,

0:46:280:46:30

the biggest lift is 6.5 tonne,

0:46:300:46:32

then the four sections get bolted together.

0:46:320:46:34

It's a tight fit.

0:46:340:46:35

I think the larger piece that's going to come down this afternoon

0:46:350:46:38

is about seven metres long

0:46:380:46:39

and the mole hole itself is about five metres.

0:46:390:46:41

That's the biggest section, this one.

0:46:430:46:45

It's just the getting them down now,

0:46:450:46:48

through the tight headroom, is the crucial thing.

0:46:480:46:50

If we damage them we have to pay for them,

0:46:500:46:52

that's why we always have to have a look

0:46:520:46:53

before they come off the lorries.

0:46:530:46:56

No-one in the yard, is there?

0:46:560:46:58

Go round, Kev!

0:46:580:46:59

Right, down slowly! Fingers and toes!

0:47:060:47:09

We have to tilt it. It's very tight.

0:47:110:47:13

It's 50-50, but we'll get it anyway. We'll go for it.

0:47:130:47:18

'Ready? Down on these hoists, please. Down on these hoists.'

0:47:180:47:22

No problem, coming down now, coming down.

0:47:230:47:26

It's a steady descent through the station's four floors.

0:47:280:47:32

Go ahead.

0:47:320:47:34

We've just got to tip this now to come through the hole.

0:47:430:47:46

Yeah, it's tight.

0:47:480:47:51

One side's through, one side ain't.

0:47:530:47:55

We don't want to hit the slab because it will dent the escalator.

0:47:580:48:01

Just wait for the swing just to stop.

0:48:040:48:07

Whoa, that'll do.

0:48:070:48:08

It's through there now.

0:48:130:48:15

That'll do you. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

0:48:150:48:17

It was tight, but we knew it was always going to be tight.

0:48:170:48:21

Yeah, go on!

0:48:210:48:22

With the biggest section down, the other pieces are child's play.

0:48:220:48:26

Down slowly!

0:48:260:48:28

All the four sections are down.

0:48:320:48:35

Ready to start unwrapping them and joining some sections together.

0:48:350:48:39

I'm happy.

0:48:390:48:41

I can sleep tonight.

0:48:410:48:42

Last task - join the escalator sections together...

0:48:450:48:51

I love riveting. This is a very riveting job.

0:48:510:48:54

..and raise them into position.

0:48:550:48:58

Go on, muscles.

0:48:580:48:59

I need a man.

0:49:040:49:06

Love it.

0:49:080:49:09

Up you go!

0:49:090:49:10

Two notches up again!

0:49:150:49:17

Whoa! Hold it!

0:49:270:49:28

That's it.

0:49:280:49:30

What we're seeing here is the first real link between the platform

0:49:330:49:37

and the ticket hall.

0:49:370:49:39

The conduits, the umbilical cord,

0:49:390:49:41

if you like, that runs through the station, linking all the spaces.

0:49:410:49:45

Four years from now,

0:49:470:49:48

these escalators will be some of the busiest on the network,

0:49:480:49:51

carrying up to 100,000 people a day down to the trains.

0:49:510:49:55

2.5 miles west,

0:50:040:50:05

at the new Whitechapel Station.

0:50:050:50:09

Jules' team has waited three years for the tunnelling machine

0:50:090:50:12

to break through into their platform.

0:50:120:50:13

This will finally connect the station

0:50:160:50:18

into the 120-kilometre Crossrail network.

0:50:180:50:21

It's quite exciting. It's actually coming to fruition now.

0:50:230:50:26

So quite a select few get to witness it.

0:50:260:50:29

Oh, I got my lovely camera here.

0:50:290:50:31

I'm expecting to take a lot of pictures.

0:50:310:50:33

And maybe some personal ones for the family

0:50:330:50:36

to hopefully be as proud as I am.

0:50:360:50:37

The tunnelling machine

0:50:400:50:41

has made it 3.5 metres through the concrete plug.

0:50:410:50:44

During the course of the next thrust forward of the TBM,

0:50:450:50:49

we should be showing signs of breaking through the head wall

0:50:490:50:53

at Whitechapel.

0:50:530:50:54

So that's 900 mil, in theory, to the breakthrough.

0:50:560:50:58

-Is that correct?

-Yeah, yeah, approximately.

0:50:580:51:01

Although the wall might actually collapse before that.

0:51:030:51:06

It should do, actually.

0:51:060:51:07

Yeah, Roger, I'm with the TBM driver,

0:51:080:51:10

could you tell us what you can see, please?

0:51:100:51:13

Two big cracks and steam coming out?

0:51:180:51:21

The wall hasn't collapsed, then, yet, no?

0:51:210:51:23

Ooh, there we go!

0:51:370:51:39

First bit of muck fell off the face then.

0:51:390:51:41

And it was on the left-hand crack.

0:51:410:51:42

Oh, and another bit.

0:51:420:51:44

Any minute now, that slab of foam concrete is going to fall off

0:51:460:51:50

and show the face of the TBM, I hope.

0:51:500:51:52

There it goes!

0:52:010:52:02

It looks like dust, but it's mainly steam that's coming in.

0:52:110:52:14

This is more of a breakthrough for radio, isn't it, than television?

0:52:170:52:21

Can you see the full cutterhead yet or...?

0:52:220:52:25

No. You can't see anything, OK.

0:52:250:52:28

Haven't seen anything yet. All I've seen is dust!

0:52:290:52:32

One final push and the machine pulls into Whitechapel.

0:52:350:52:39

See the guys, the TBM crew coming through there now, which is nice.

0:52:450:52:49

Sort of a 'welcome to Whitechapel' moment.

0:52:490:52:51

You can probably see the view through

0:52:530:52:55

to some of the team on the Whitechapel side.

0:52:550:52:57

Dust is settling now a bit, so there you are.

0:53:000:53:03

You can see Whitechapel.

0:53:030:53:05

After three years of working towards the same goal,

0:53:060:53:09

the tunnellers finally meet the station builders.

0:53:090:53:13

-Congratulations and well done.

-No problem. Thank you.

-Spot on!

0:53:130:53:17

There was a lot of heat generating in the machine

0:53:170:53:19

and a lot of steam from the other side, there.

0:53:190:53:21

So, you could feel that from your end?

0:53:210:53:23

Oh, the heat was intense inside, yeah.

0:53:230:53:24

It's fairly surreal to be standing out in front of it.

0:53:240:53:27

What you've stood behind for so long.

0:53:270:53:28

The foam concrete did its job well, there.

0:53:280:53:31

The machine cut its way out of the ground, or into the station,

0:53:310:53:34

rather than barged in with large boulders falling.

0:53:340:53:38

I should be a photographer, shouldn't I?

0:53:390:53:41

You're a legend. Now I can show my mum.

0:53:410:53:44

One, two, three...

0:53:440:53:46

-ALL:

-Yeah!

0:53:460:53:47

Whitechapel Station is finally connected to Crossrail's tunnels.

0:53:550:53:59

In four years' time, at rush hour,

0:54:020:54:05

32,000 people will pass down the platforms here.

0:54:050:54:08

At Crossrail's Canary Wharf Station,

0:54:190:54:22

Phil's team is locking the last beams into place.

0:54:220:54:25

Everything's going perfect, thank God. Everything is good.

0:54:300:54:34

It's the biggest project that we've done.

0:54:340:54:36

It's something to be proud of, I suppose.

0:54:360:54:38

Final piece of the jigsaw - 780 inflatable cushions

0:54:380:54:43

that will fill the gaps and cover most of the rooftop garden.

0:54:430:54:46

In charge of this part of the build

0:54:480:54:50

is Roy Butcher and Christoff Schmidt.

0:54:500:54:52

-Do I look good?

-Very good.

-Is it straight?

0:54:540:54:56

He loves to hate me. I love to hate him.

0:54:580:55:01

-That's what we call teamwork.

-Teamwork, yeah.

0:55:010:55:03

Installing the cushions requires a head for heights.

0:55:030:55:07

So they've assembled a crew of highly trained specialists

0:55:070:55:09

from all over the world.

0:55:090:55:11

Romanians, Hungarians, Dutch, English...

0:55:120:55:17

Who's English?

0:55:170:55:18

-You?

-I'm Welsh!

0:55:190:55:21

-Ah, you're Welsh. I'm sorry.

-Yeah. Cut!

0:55:210:55:23

They're rock climbers and mountain climbers,

0:55:240:55:27

so they're used to heights, but, yes, a very skilled trade.

0:55:270:55:31

Basically, they're just unwrapping the cushion now.

0:55:340:55:37

It comes all folded up, they unfold it.

0:55:370:55:40

They have to put aluminium sections which run down the edge.

0:55:400:55:44

Then they'll connect it into the system,

0:55:440:55:46

connect the air pipes and blow it up.

0:55:460:55:49

Sounds simple, little bit more difficult.

0:55:490:55:51

Fitting the first cushion on the lower outside edge

0:55:520:55:55

will be a real test.

0:55:550:55:56

Below is a 20-metre drop.

0:55:590:56:01

Because we're installing the cushion almost on the vertical face,

0:56:010:56:05

there is no area for a safety net.

0:56:050:56:07

This is the most susceptible point of the installation,

0:56:080:56:12

is when it's opened.

0:56:120:56:14

If the wind catches it then that's the worst-case scenario.

0:56:140:56:18

Once it's got the rails on it and it's attached, it's secure.

0:56:180:56:21

They're now fitting the air inlet,

0:56:230:56:26

so any moment now you'll see the cushion inflating.

0:56:260:56:30

It is actually starting to inflate now.

0:56:350:56:37

One done, about 750 to go.

0:56:400:56:44

I'm a happy bunny.

0:56:470:56:49

It's growing, you know? It's getting more beautiful every day.

0:56:560:57:00

40 metres below the roof,

0:57:030:57:05

James' 240-metre-long platforms are almost fitted out.

0:57:050:57:10

It's an immensely satisfying project to walk away from.

0:57:100:57:13

It's probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

0:57:130:57:15

to work on something like this.

0:57:150:57:17

Brushed steel louvres add the finishing touches to Neil's vents.

0:57:170:57:21

It might look poncey,

0:57:230:57:25

but the amount of engineering that's gone into this is outstanding.

0:57:250:57:28

I would say the whole team's proud.

0:57:280:57:30

And the final timber slots into place on the roof.

0:57:300:57:33

All our timbers are fitted. Everything is done now.

0:57:330:57:37

Someone else's problem now, I'm out of here. Back to Ireland.

0:57:380:57:42

THEY SING

0:57:420:57:47

Four years from now

0:57:530:57:55

and the ticket halls open.

0:57:550:57:57

The escalators start running.

0:57:570:57:59

Before then, the team must lay the tracks and build the trains.

0:58:010:58:06

London's population is set to pass nine million in 2018.

0:58:080:58:11

Only then will the architects of this £15-billion railway

0:58:130:58:17

discover if Crossrail is enough to keep London moving.

0:58:170:58:21

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