Tubes and wet concrete don’t mix
Nina Notman ponders chemistry’s role in drying out the Victoria line after a concrete flood
When ‘Victoria line closed due to flooding at Victoria Station’ bellowed out throughout the London underground network after lunch on Thursday 23 January many travellers barely raised an eyebrow. Hardly surprising due to the record rainfall England has been suffering from of late.
For once, though, our weather wasn’t to blame, but rather builders and some wet concrete practiced in the art of escapology.
Wet quick-drying concrete – being used by contractors upgrading Victoria Station – appears to have escaped through a void in the escalator machine room into the Victoria line signal control room. Damage limitation came from the engineers’ quick-thinking and chemical knowledge. The solution was surprisingly simple: as many bags of sugar as they could lay their hands on.
Thanks for using Education in Chemistry. You can view one Education in Chemistry article per month as a visitor.
Register for Teach Chemistry for free, unlimited access
Registration is open to all teachers and technicians at secondary schools, colleges and teacher training institutions in the UK and Ireland.
Get all this, plus much more:
- unlimited access to resources, core practical videos and Education in Chemistry articles
- teacher well-being toolkit, personal development resources and online assessments
- applications for funding to support your lessons
Already a Teach Chemistry member? Sign in now.
Not eligible for Teach Chemistry? Sign up for a personal account instead, or you can also access all our resources with Royal Society of Chemistry membership.