Tunnelling starts on London’s public-transport focused Silvertown Tunnel

Tunnelling of the new public-transport focused river crossing at Silvertown is now underway, Transport for London (TfL) and Riverlinx have confirmed. The 1.4km Silvertown Tunnel will link Newham to the Greenwich Peninsula and provide improved bus links across the Thames when it opens in 2025.

By reducing congestion at the nearby Blackwall Tunnel, providing new cross-river bus links and creating a more reliable river crossing for cars, vans and lorries, it will support economic growth across east and southeast London. It will also provide better access to new job opportunities and support new housing and business developments across the wider area.

The project is being delivered by the Riverlinx consortium, which is made up of abrdn, Invesis, Cintra, Macquarie Capital and SK ecoplant, through a design, build, finance, operate and maintain contract. The vast majority of the funding is coming from private finance which has been specifically raised for this scheme.

Since construction on the project began in 2020, work has been undertaken to prepare for the start of tunnelling, including the delivery of the launch chamber for the tunnel boring machine (TBM), a conveyor system built to remove excavated materials and also repairs to the river wall made to ensure it is not affected during tunnelling.

Around 780 people are working full-time on the project, including a number of local apprentices who are benefiting from working on a major construction project in their area.

The two bores that make up the Silvertown Tunnel are being built using one 82 metre-long TBM with an 11.9m diameter cutter face. The TBM is named 'Jill' in honour of Jill Viner, who in June 1974 became the first female bus driver in London.

Now launched, Jill will progress under the river at around 10 metres every day and once the first tunnel is completed, will be turned around to head back to Newham and bore the second tunnel.

Across the course of the project, nearly 600,000 tonnes of material will be excavated and removed from site via barges as part of the project's wider commitment to keep construction traffic and associated emissions to a minimum. More than 150 barges have already been used to deliver or remove materials and waste from site, removing at least 18,000 lorries from the road.

All vehicles working or delivering to the construction sites meet Euro VI standard and Riverlinx has adopted a Stage IV or better policy for Non-Road-Mobile Machinery (NRMM) across the project, which means they meet or exceed the requirements of the GLA's NRMM Low Emission Zone.

Once the Silvertown Tunnel is open, the total number of buses running through both Blackwall and Silvertown Tunnels will increase, with TfL committed to running at least 20 zero-emission buses per hour through the tunnels at peak times. TfL expects the overall provision of buses through the area could increase to 37 buses per hour over time as new developments, including at the Royal Docks and Greenwich Peninsula, are completed during the next decade.

User charging at the Blackwall and Silvertown Tunnels, which will commence once the Silvertown Tunnel is complete, alongside the new zero-emission bus network, will help to manage traffic levels and encourage people to switch their journeys to public transport where possible.

Alongside the tunnelling, Riverlinx will be shortly commencing work to realign the road network in Newham and Greenwich to link in with the new tunnel.

TfL and Riverlinx are also actively working on the designs for the walking, cycling and landscaping improvements, which will be delivered around either side of the tunnel entrances. These will see new dedicated cycleways and footways, as well as shared space and new public realm installed across Tidal Basin Road roundabout, which will link in with wider improvements planned by Newham Council across the Royal Docks area. The proposed landscaping around the tunnel entrances, as well as a green roof on both tunnel portal buildings, will also form part of the scheme's commitment to environmental improvements and promoting biodiversity across the wider area.