Crossrail's train tunnels are three quarters complete following the breakthrough of Victoria, one of the project's huge boring machines, into Whitechapel station.

The 150 metre long machine is named after Queen Victoria and began her journey at Limmo Peninsula in east London at the end of 2012. She broke into the huge underground space at Whitechapel where work is taking place 35 metres below the surface to create over a kilometre of new platform and passenger tunnels for the new Crossrail station.

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During the second half of 2014, whilst tunnelling will continue, the project’s focus will begin to shift to the substantial job of fitting out the stations and tunnels.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "With three quarters of tunnelling complete, we're tantalisingly close to finishing what is without doubt a monumental feat of engineering. It's quite remarkable what the Crossrail team has achieved so far and we now look forward to the next exciting stage of the project - the fitting out of the Crossrail stations of the future."

Crossrail Chief Executive Andrew Wolstenholme said: "Our tunnelling marathon deep beneath the streets of the capital is continuing apace with the construction of the new rail tunnels now three quarters complete. Over the past two years, our huge machines have built more than 19 miles of tunnels and removed more than two million tonnes of earth."

(CD/MH)