Completion of the £14.8bn Crossrail project to build a brand new railway across London has moved a step closer after tunnelling work was finished.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin joined the Prime Minister and the Mayor of London at Farringdon to celebrate the end of tunnelling on the Crossrail scheme. Work began in the summer of 2012, with 8 1,000-tonne tunnelling machines boring 26 miles of new rail tunnels underneath the capital.

When Crossrail fully opens in 2019, it will transform east-west travel across London and the South East, from Reading and Heathrow through to Shenfield and Abbey Wood. The central section will open ahead of this in 2018.

Prime Minister David Cameron said:

“Crossrail is an incredible feat of engineering that will help to improve the lives of working people in London and beyond. The project is a vital part of our long term plan to build a more resilient economy by helping businesses to grow, compete and create jobs right along the supply chain.”