Photographs I took on 23rd September 2000 of the new channel tunnel rail link and the construction of the new M2 London bound bridge over the river Medway.

The Rt Hon. John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister, officially marked the start of construction at a traditional ground-breaking ceremony on October 15th 1998.
The ceremony took place by the Medway Crossing near Cuxton in Kent, which forms Section 1 of the Link.

Work to construct the CTRL began in October 1998 with the start of work on Section 1. Section 1 runs between the Channel Tunnel and Fawkham Junction in north Kent and opened in September 2003. Work on Section 2 began in July 2001 which will complete the UK's first high speed line into central London by the end of 2006.

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Facts & Figures

 

Distance

 

 

Channel Tunnel to St Pancras

109km (68 miles)

Channel Tunnel to Fawkham Junction (Section 1)

74km (46 miles)

Southfleet to St Pancras (Section 2)

39km (24 miles)

Distance in tunnel

 

25% of route -

26km (16 miles)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Performance: Section 1

 

 

Maximum Usage

Up to 4 Eurostars per hour each way

Journey times:

 

Waterloo to Channel Tunnel

55 minutes

Waterloo to Paris

2 hours 35 minutes

Waterloo to Brussels

2 hours 20 minutes

 

 

 

 

Performance Whole Line - Section 1 & 2

 

 

Maximum Usage

8 Eurostars per hour each way(300km/h)

Journey Times on Eurostar:

 

St Pancras to Channel Tunnel

35 minutes

St Pancras to Paris

2 hours 15 minutes

St Pancras to Brussels

2 hours

 

 

 

 

Estimated Cost (Including land)

£5.2 billion

 

Section 1

£1.9 billion

Section 2

£3.3 billion

 

 

 

 

Tunnels

 

 

London tunnels  - (Islington to Dagenham)

19km

London tunnels - Longest single tunnel (Stratford to Ripple Lane)

10.5km

Thames tunnel

3km

North Downs tunnel

3.2km

Stratford station "box"

1.1km

Ashford "box"

1.7km

 

 

 

 

 

 

Viaducts

 

 

Thurrock viaduct (beneath the QEII bridge)

1.3km

Medway viaduct (alongside the existing M2 bridge)

1.2km

Ashford viaduct (over Great and East Stour rivers and Ashford-Canterbury line)

1.4km

 

 

 

 

Quantities - Section 1 & 2

 

 

Ballast used

850,000T

No. of bridges:

152

Rail bridges

  60

Road bridges

  62

Foot bridges

  30

Earthworks:

 

General excavation (approx. enough to fill Wembley Stadium 12 times)

14M m3

Structural fill (formation of embankments/increase height of embankments)

5M m3

Mitigation fill (formation of landscaping bunds/to reduce air borne noise)

7M m3

Material to non-CTRL uses

1M m3

 

 

 

 

Interesting Statistics

 

 

Time a Eurostar will take to go through North Downs Tunnel at 186mph

38.4 seconds

Earth excavated to build the North Downs Tunnel

500,000 m3

Concrete used in Medway Viaduct

35,000 m3

Number of construction jobs created by the CTRL

8,000

 

 

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