Chunnel rail link work probably caused landslip-spokesman
A massive hole that swallowed the gardens of three houses was probably caused by underground boring work being carried out by the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, a spokesman for the project said today.
Forty-seven residents of three houses in Lavender Street, Stratford, east London, had to be evacuated from their homes and emergency services were called when the landslip occurred yesterday evening.
The 10 families live above the site where the underground tunnel for the rail link is being dug and there were fears that their homes could collapse after cracks appeared in the local post office and pub, according to a spokeswoman for Newham Council.
The residents were hoping to find out today if they can return to their homes after spending the night in two hotels.
Overnight the hole was filled with concrete to stabilise the ground and prevent any further damage, a Channel Tunnel Rail link spokesman said.
According to the London Fire Brigade, the hole measures approximately 40 metres by 70 metres, and is 10 metres deep, but the Rail Link spokesman said the hole was 10 metres long by seven metres wide.
No one was hurt, but police closed streets around the site to allow the fire brigade, engineers and safety officers from the local council to inspect the scene.
The Rail Link spokesman said: “We are very sorry for the inconvenience that has been caused to people who live in the area. I can say with confidence that all of the 47 people who had to be evacuated have been found hotel accommodation by Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
“We are fairly certain that our tunnel boring machine ultimately caused this hole to open up in the ground. It’s progress obviously, at some stage, caused this hole to appear.
“An investigation began overnight and we held meetings with emergency services, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link project and the local authority.
“We want to reassure people who live nearby that we have been filling in the hole with liquid concrete to stabilise the area.
“We won’t be moving our boring machine again until we are satisfied that we know how it happened and that it won’t happen again.
“We very much hope that we will have the residents back in their homes as soon as possible but the key issue is safety. We hope most of them will be back in their homes today.”
Everyone inside the two-storey privately-owned Victorian houses lining Lavender Street and some properties on The Grove, adjoining, was evacuated, originally to a church and then to hotels for the night.
The gardens of the buildings are directly above the site of the new underground tunnel for the Channel Tunnel Rail link, being dug to link Ashford, Kent, with the new terminal at St Pancras.
The bore, digging the eight-metre wide tunnel 20 metres below the surface, had passed under the gardens a day-and-a-half before the ground collapsed, the Rail Link spokesman said.
By the time of the landslip the bore had travelled 30 metres from the site and the tunnel remained completely intact.
The landslip is only a few hundred yards from a school and busy roads lined with shops and pubs.
The Rail Link spokesman said all bore work was stopped as soon as the landslip was discovered and engineers on the scene had begun investigating the cause overnight and would continue today.
Tunnelling would not begin again until the engineers and surveyors had carried out full examination of the area, found out what caused the collapse and deemed it safe to continue boring.
Surveyors will be examining the buildings today, but the council spokeswoman thought it unlikely the residents would be able to return to their homes tonight.
He added that it was too early to say whether the £5.2bn (€7.8bn) project, stage two of the rail link, will be delayed by the incident.
The tunnel is being dug by a giant boring machine excavating an 8-metre diameter hole, working continuously 24 hours a day.
The section currently being built runs from Stratford to Ilford.
It is part of over 20 kilometres of tunnels being dug under London and the Thames for the massive rail link project, planned to open in 2007.
All those whose property lay above the tunnel would have been aware of the boring work as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link had to buy the land underneath from them.
