THOUSANDS of training posts are set to be created after plans to open a new 'tunnelling academy' in the borough were announced.

Around 3,000 students will be taught at the £12m Redbridge Crossrail Tunnelling Academy, which is set to be constructed at Aldersbrook Sidings, near Ilford Town Centre.

The project, which has been approved by Redbridge and Newham councils is jointly funded by Crossrail and the Skills Funding Agency.

Students, who are set to attend the academy from across the UK and Europe, will be trained in underground safety, tunnel boring and sprayed concrete lining in order to prepare them for work on the London Crossrail project.

The academy will include classrooms and practical facilities including a JCB training area, a narrow gauge railway with a tunnel boring machine and a construction yard.

A Redbridge Council spokesman said: "Redbridge Council will now consider an application from Crossrail to retain the Tunnelling Academy for use as a multi-use training facility beyond the construction of Crossrail, due in 2017.

"The academy would then be managed in partnership with the British Tunnelling Society for future tunnelling projects in the United Kingdom and across the world.

"It is hoped that construction of the academy will commence later this year and be completed before the end of 2011."