The London Crossrail project, the perhaps largest European construction site ongoing, is known well beyond the realms of Great Britain. In order to upgrade the subway system for future demands, two new tunnels (each approx. 21 kilometers in length and 6 meters in diameter) are under construction, there. Such a gigantic construction project would be impossible without the help of modern automation solutions. And this involves more than just the now commonly used tunnel boring machines. For instance, the mounting holes for cable systems, cable runs and walkways are no longer manually drilled by construction crews. In the Crossrail project, these tasks are carried out by automated drilling carriages. Magnetostrictive linear position sensors, which can be directly integrated into the hydraulic cylinders of the boring machines, are assisting the subterranean mobile application.
