A tunnel boring machine ready to start on the 8.3 kilometre to Farringdon

Material dug up during construction of the Crossrail project will be moved by boat instead of lorry to minimise disruption to residents.

Tunnel boring machine shaft measuring 44 metres deep

A new jetty will shift it from the tunnelling site at the Limmo Peninsula near Canning Town. According to Crossrail bosses, this will remove 30,000 lorries from east London roads.

Workers have also started putting together a third 150-metre tunnel boring machine. It will be tested before being lowered into two huge launch shafts at the site.

More than 250 people are now working at Limmo Peninsula - with that number expected to peak at around 500.

Peter Main, Crossrail’s eastern tunnels project manager, said: “We will also deliver 120,000 concrete tunnel segments by boat from Chatham Dockyard to further reduce our local impact.

“It is critical that we do all we can to limit the impact of Crossrail’s construction of local communities.”

When complete, Crossrail, costing almost £15billionm will link east London to major destinations in the capital.