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400 kV Thames Crossing

Overhead power line crossing of the River Thames

Field	Value
name	400 kV Thames Crossing
photo	File:The 400 kV Thames Crossing Kent tower.jpg
caption	The Kent tower
map	{{maplink
frame	yes	plain=yes	frame-align=center	zoom=12	frame-lat=51.46491	frame-long=0.29662
type1	point	coord1=	title1=Essex Tower
type2	point	coord2=	title2=Kent Tower
country	UK
owner	National Grid plc
current_type	AC
AC_voltage	400 kV
type	High-level overhead line
est	1965

The 400 kV Thames Crossing is an overhead power line crossing of the River Thames, between Botany Marshes in Swanscombe, Kent, and West Thurrock, Essex, England. Its towers are the tallest electricity pylons in the UK.

The present crossing was built in 1965, and comprises two 190-metre (623 feet) tall lattice towers each side of the Thames. Some suggest that the choice of this height was deliberate, being just taller than the BT Tower in London. The span is 1372 metres, the minimum height of the conductors over the river is 76 metres (249 feet). Each tower has three crossarms and carries two circuits of 400 kV three-phase AC.

400 kV power lines also cross the Thames at the Thames Cable Tunnel, the Dartford Cable Tunnel, and the London Power Tunnels.

132 kV Thames Crossing

There was at one time an earlier 132 kV crossing nearby, with towers 148.4 metres tall. Linking Dagenham and Crossness, it was built between 1927 and 1932 and was part of the Belvedere-Crowlands 132/33/25 kV double circuit. With the cessation of generation at Belvedere Power Station, this line was dismantled in 1987.

2006 death

In March 2006, Paul Smith-Crallan attempted to BASE jump from a platform on the Swanscombe Tower. The parachute he was using failed to open due to a pull-op cord being tied around the pilotchute, causing him to fall to his death. This tower is a popular base jumping location because of two platforms that provide good launch points.

Gallery

File:High Voltage? - geograph.org.uk - 39699.jpg|Detail of the Essex Tower File:High Power? - geograph.org.uk - 48940.jpg|Detail of the Kent Tower File:The 400 kV Thames Crossing Kent tower.jpg|Aerial view of the 190 metre [623 feet] Kent tower and Queen Elizabeth suspension bridge. File:400kV Thames Crossing Kent Tower, Botany Marshes, Swanscombe, Kent. 01.jpg|View of the internal structure of the Kent tower. File:400kV Thames Crossing Kent Tower, Botany Marshes, Swanscombe, Kent. 02.jpg|View of one of the Kent tower legs.

References

"Everything you ever wanted to know about electricity pylons". National Grid.
(February 2003). "News". Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society.
"Power Over the Thames". Amalgamated Press.
Kirby, Terry. (2006-03-15). "Base-jumper killed in leap from 600ft electricity pylon". The Independent.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

towers-in-kent powerline-river-crossings electric-power-infrastructure-in-england electric-power-transmission-in-the-united-kingdom 1965-establishments-in-england energy-infrastructure-completed-in-1965

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