After months of working in the dark in the heart of the city, there was light.

Above its serrated head, the galleries of what would become Farringdon Station opened up. A little further up, the sun shone in the London sky. It seemed to want to say, “good job, ADA.” After all, the massive tunneler had just excavated 13 kilometers of tunnel and laid 9,300 rings of what will become the Crossrail’s Western Running Tunnels, a fast underground railway line in London.

The operation of the ADA tunneler, under the supervision of a joint venture composed of Ferrovial, Bam, and Kier, was one of the most outstanding parts of the Crossrail’s construction. The new London connection, dubbed the Elizabeth Line, will run 118 kilometers from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east when it’s finished. A total of 21 kilometers of the new infrastructure will run through twin tunnels under central London at a depth of more than 40 meters.

The Elizabeth Line, which will go into operation in the first half of 2022, will increase the London rail network’s capacity by 10%. It will also allow an additional 1.5 million people to reach London’s main business areas in 45 minutes. Ferrovial has not only contributed to excavating the Farringdon tunnel and station, we’ve also built the entrances and caverns for the Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road stations.

When the Elizabeth Line is fully operational, Farringdon, now in operation, will become one of the busiest transport hubs in the United Kingdom. It is estimated that 140 trains and up to 150,000 people per hour will use it. It also offers direct connections to three of the city’s five main airports.