 Gerrards Cross station and tunnel in 2009 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Line | Chiltern Main Line |
| Location | Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Coordinates | 51°35′18″N 0°33′11″W / 51.588343°N 0.553007°W |
| Operation | |
| Work begun | 2003 |
| Opened | 2010 |
| Technical | |
| Length | 310 metres (340 yd) |
| No. of tracks | 2 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
Gerrards Cross Tunnel is a 310-metre-long (340 yd)[1] railway tunnel in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, on the Chiltern Main Line. The purpose of the tunnel was to enable a new Tesco supermarket to be built over the railway line. Plans were initially met with anger by local residents, and the council refused planning permission but this decision was overturned by John Prescott.
During construction of the tunnel, it partially collapsed on 30 June 2005. No-one was injured in the accident, although a train heading towards the tunnel when it collapsed had to perform an emergency stop. Early reports suspected the cause was the backfilling operation; the Health and Safety Executive are yet as of December 2020 to release their findings owing to legal issues.[2] A freedom of information request on 10 December 2020 was denied.[3]
Despite the incident, the construction continued in 2007 with different contractors building the tunnel. The store opened in November 2010, fourteen years after the project was commissioned.
- ^ "Railway tunnel lengths, G-P". www.railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
- ^ "Freedom of Information request Ref 201702198". whatdotheyknow.com. 15 February 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ "Gerrards Cross Tunnel Collapse Report - a Freedom of Information request to Health and Safety Executive". WhatDoTheyKnow. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2021.