[title]
When engineering work first began on London’s new Crossrail, aka the Elizabeth Line, back in 2009, one of the key considerations was that they needed a lot of tunnels for all those new-spec trains to travel through. Not only was a concerted underground excavation team needed to create an extensive underground network, but these were deep, wide and long tunnels. Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ sandworms were unavailable for burrowing on this occasion so this required human technology instead in the shape of giant tunnel-boring machines known as ‘moles’, of the type also used in the Eurotunnel, and also raised the question – what do you do with all the stuff that they dug up?
Luckily the answer is rather lovely. A BBC news article has revealed that much of the tunnelling spoil has been used to address coastal erosion and create a new nature reserve in Essex, in a remote spot, 23 miles away from the nearest Crossrail station. RSPB Wallasea Island describes itself as a ‘magical landscape of marshland, lagoons, ditches and sea’, where wildfowl and waders can shake a tail feather. Approached by Crossrail in 2008, the RSPB scheme was the beneficiary of the initiative to reuse clean spoils from the tunnelling which allowed them to create new tidal habitats, realigning the landscape for birds and other wildlife.
Bear in mind that Crossrail has three sets of tunnels ranging from nearly ten miles long in the stretch between Royal Oak and Custom House to shorter ones between Pudding Mill Lane and Stepney Green junction and taking the line to the south-east under the Thames to North Woolwich. The ‘moles’ had to burrow out holes more than 6 metres wide. London being so big, the geologically minded will know that the soil type varied massively, so digging involved boring through chalk, sand, gravel and clay. According to the BBC article, thousands of tonnes of all of these spoils were shipped to Wallasea.
So that’s the story, you can grab a seat on Crossrail knowing that nearly 1,500 acres of beautiful new wild Essex coast has been created, with your help.
RSPB Wallasea Island, Rochford, SS4 2HD.
Check out Crossrail in pictures.
London’s loneliest dog has finally found a home.