BBC - The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway (2014) Part 1 Urban Heart Surgery

The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway

The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway goes behind-the-scenes of Crossrail, to discover the characters and technology behind Europe’s biggest engineering project. The three-part BBC Two series looks at the building of London’s brand new high frequency, high-capacity subterranean railway. From the construction of a gigantic new train station located at Canary Wharf, to the father and son team excavating the lines new twin tube tunnels under the river Thames, this series reveals the cutting edge technology and larger than life characters at the heart of building London’s new underground. Employing over 10,000 workers and costing 15 billion pounds, the railway engineers must burrow forty-two kilometres of tunnels, ensure listed buildings don’t crack, London Underground trains continue running, roads stay open and the City stays in business.

Part 1: Urban Heart Surgery

As they burrow the forty-two kilometres of tunnels, engineers must battle to make sure that listed buildings don't crack, London Underground trains keep running, roads don't shut and the City stays in business. Crucially, they must drive one of their gigantic 1,000-tonne tunnel boring machines through a tiny gap in the congested underbelly of Tottenham Court Road station without the passengers on the tube platforms below knowing they are there.

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