Tunnels underneath the River Thames

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The table below lists many of the tunnels under the River Thames in and near London, which, thanks largely to its underlying bed of clay, is one of the most tunnelled cities in the world. The tunnels are used for road vehicles, pedestrians, Underground and railway lines and utilities. Several tunnels are over a century old: the original Thames Tunnel was the world's first underwater tunnel.

Contents

List of tunnels

NameTypeBetweenOpenedCarriesNotes
Thames Cable Tunnel   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel Former Tilbury power station↔Eastcourt Marsh sealing end compound1970 Power cable 1,675 metres (5,495 ft) long, carries two 400 kV circuits; [1] [2] depth 46 metres (151 ft), only accessible by authorised personnel
High Speed 1 tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel West Thurrock, Swanscombe 2007 High Speed 1
Dartford Tunnel (eastern)   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Road tunnelMay 1980 A282 road
Dartford Tunnel (western)   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Road tunnel18 Nov 1963 A282 road, European route E15
Dartford Cable Tunnel   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel 2005 Power cable
Barking cable tunnel  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel [3] Barking, Thamesmead 1920s [4] Power cable
Docklands Light Railway tunnel  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel King George V, Woolwich Arsenal 2009 Docklands Light Railway
Crossrail tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel Woolwich, North Woolwich 2014 [5] Elizabeth line Tunnel construction completed in 2015; rail service began 24 May 2022. [6]
Woolwich foot tunnel   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Pedestrian tunnel [7] Woolwich, North Woolwich 26 Oct 1912 Footpath The chief engineer was Maurice Fitzmaurice.
Thames Barrier   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Flood barrier Woolwich, North Woolwich 1984Service tunnel only accessible by authorised personnel.
Millennium Dome cable tunnel  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel [8] Millennium Dome, West Ham 1999 [9] Power cable 2.8-metre (9 ft 2 in) diameter, only accessible by authorised personnel
Jubilee line tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel North Greenwich tube station, Canning Town 1999 Jubilee line
Blackwall Tunnel (eastern)   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Road tunnel1967 A102 road
Blackwall Tunnel (western)   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Road tunnel London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Royal Borough of Greenwich 22 May 1897 [10] A102 road Engineer was Alexander Binnie.
Isle of Dogs Jubilee line tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel Canary Wharf tube station, North Greenwich tube station 1999 Jubilee line
Docklands Light Railway tunnel  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel Island Gardens, Cutty Sark 1999 Docklands Light Railway
Greenwich foot tunnel   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Pedestrian tunnel [7] Millwall, Greenwich 1899 Footpath The chief engineer was Alexander Binnie.
Deptford cable tunnel  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel [11] Deptford, Wapping Power cable
Jubilee line tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel Canada Water station, Canary Wharf tube station 1999 Jubilee line
Rotherhithe Tunnel   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Road tunnel, pedestrian tunnel Rotherhithe, Limehouse 12 Jun 1908A101 roadThe chief engineer was Maurice Fitzmaurice.
Thames Tunnel   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel Wapping, Rotherhithe 1843 East London line, London Overground Marc Brunel. The world's first underwater tunnel, now part of the Overground network. Originally a foot tunnel.
New Cross to Finsbury Market Cable Tunnel   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel New Cross Substation - Wellclose Square Substation2017 Power cable
Tower Subway   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel, tube railway, pedestrian tunnel2 Aug 1870 Water pipe, optical fiber Peter W. Barlow and James Henry Greathead. The world's first underground tube railway. A rail tunnel for 3 months only, then a foot tunnel. Currently carries pipes and fibre-optic lines.
Northern Line (Bank branch) tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnelLondon Bridge tube station, Bank and Monument stations 1900 Northern line (Bank branch)
City & South London Railway tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel Borough tube station, King William Street tube station 1890 City and South London Railway Originally rail tunnels, now disused. The world's first electric tube railway, with tunnels only 10 feet 2 inches (3.10 m) in diameter, became disused in 1900 when new 11-foot-6-inch (3.51 m) tunnels to the east replaced them
Waterloo & City line tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel Bank and Monument stations, Waterloo tube station 1898 Waterloo & City line
Bankside Cable Tunnel  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel [12] Bankside, Blackfriars 1940s Power cable
Northern line (Charing Cross branch) tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel Waterloo tube station, Embankment tube station 1926 Northern line (Charing Cross branch)
Bakerloo line tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel Waterloo tube station, Embankment tube station 1906 Bakerloo line
Bankside–Charing Cross cable tunnel  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel [12] Bankside substation to Charing Cross substation, partly runs beneath Hungerford Bridge Power cable
Jubilee Line Extension tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel Waterloo tube station, Westminster tube station 1999 Jubilee line
Victoria line tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Railway tunnel Vauxhall tube station, Pimlico tube station 1971 Victoria line
Wimbledon – Pimlico cable tunnel  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel [8] 1996 Power cable
Battersea steam tunnel  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel Battersea, Pimlico 20th century Water pipe Used to carry steam under the Thames to the Churchill Gardens estate.
Battersea exhaust tunnels  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel Battersea, Pimlico 1920sTwo tunnels run under the Thames from the station and arrive on either side of Chelsea Bridge.
London Power Tunnels   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg Utility tunnel Wimbledon, Kensal Green 2018, 2011 Power cable

Other tunnels

The figure and list above leaves out a tunnel to the site of the old Ferranti power station on the east side of the mouth of Deptford Creek.

There is also a tunnel between Cottons centre and the old Billingsgate Fish Market near to London Bridge. Citibank used it for cabling at one point; it was large enough for a person to walk through. [ citation needed ]

The Silvertown Tunnel is a new Thames river crossing proposed to supplement the existing Blackwall Tunnel, which will join the Greenwich Peninsula with West Silvertown.

The Thames Tideway Tunnel, due for completion in 2025, will be a 25 km (16 mi) long tunnel running mostly under the tidal section of the River Thames through central London to capture, store and convey almost all the raw sewage and rainwater that currently overflows into the river.

Background

London's abundance of river tunnels has resulted from a number of factors. For historical reasons,[ clarification needed ] the city centre has relatively few railway bridges. Only three railway bridges exist in central London, only one of which provides through services across the capital. Consequently, railway builders have had to tunnel under the river in the city centre rather than bridge it. By contrast, railway bridges are relatively common to the west of the inner city.

Another historical factor has been the presence of the Port of London, which until the 1980s required large ships to be able to access the river as far upstream as the City of London. Until the construction of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at Dartford in 1991, the easternmost bridge on the Thames was Tower Bridge in central London. Even now, the Dartford Crossing provides the only way to cross the Thames by road between London and the sea. The width of the river downstream meant that tunnels were the only options for crossings before improvements in technology allowed the construction of high bridges such as the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge.

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. Haswell, C.K. (December 1969). "Thames Cable Tunnel". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 44 (4): 323–340. doi:10.1680/iicep.1969.7250.
  2. Anon (May 1970). "Cables Down Under". Electronics & Power. 16 (5): 175. doi:10.1049/ep.1970.0161.
  3. "Open Infrastructure Map".
  4. https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/educational-images/barking-power-station-creekmouth-barking-11049
  5. http://www.crossrail.co.uk/construction/tunnelling/railway-tunnels/thames-tunnel-plumstead-to-north-woolwich
  6. "Crossrail Project Update". Archived from the original on 22 June 2019.
  7. 1 2 "Foot tunnels".
  8. 1 2 Knights, M.; Mathews, J. L. R.; Marshall, R. (August 2001). "Revealed: London's network of power tunnels". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering. 144 (3): 121–127. doi:10.1680/cien.2001.144.3.121.
  9. "Monitoring settlement in London Clay".
  10. John Witherow; Flora Shaw; Robert Barrington-Ward; Tony Gallagher (eds.), The Times, London: Times Newspapers, ISSN   0140-0460, Wikidata   Q50008
  11. "Open Infrastructure Map". Open Infrastructure Map. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  12. 1 2 "Open Infrastructure Map". Open Infrastructure Map. Retrieved 23 March 2020.