Earthworks for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link High Speed Railway, UK

The Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) is a new 109 km long high speed railway, currently under construction, which will run between Central London and the English portal of the Channel Tunnel, thus linking the UK to the rest of the European high speed rail network. The first 75 km long length opened to traffic in October 2003, and the entire route will open in 2006. The route runs through almost the entire geological strata of South East England. It also runs through several areas of derelict land, where it is envisaged that the new link will encourage regeneration. The CTRL earthworks involved the engineering of over 30 million m³ of excavation and fill. The paper describes the philosophies adopted for their design and construction. An important requirement of the parliamentary legislation which gave powers to construct the railway was a requirement to minimise waste and encourage sustainable practice in the design and construction of the link, and the ways that these were achieved are discussed in the paper. The trackbed design is briefly discussed.