Tunnelling begins on Sydney Metro City and Southwest at Chatswood
Work continues to deliver the Sydney Metro and Southwest project in New South Wales, as a third tunnel boring machine (TBM) named Wendy begins digging into the next stage of the 31-kilometre twin tunnels that will run under the centre of Sydney and deep beneath the Sydney Harbour.
Wendy is set to excavate a 6.2-kilometre tunnel beginning in Chatswood up to the edge of the Sydney Harbour at Blues Point.
“Wendy joins TBMs Nancy and Mum Shirl, the mega borers which launched last year and are now tunnelling from Marrickville towards the CBD.
“With two more machines due to start work this year, the borers will build 31km of Sydney Metro tunnels between Marrickville and Chatswood, including the first rail tunnels under Sydney Harbour,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
TBM Wendy is just one of the five machines that will be digging up to 5.9 million tonnes of dirt and rock for the twin tunnels for Sydney Metro. The two TMBs previously launched - Nancy and Mum Shirl - have already excavated approximately 1.3 kilometres of tunnel as well as 114,000 tonnes of rock from Marrickville while on its 8.1-kilometre journey towards Barangaroo.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Another TBM will be joining Wendy later this year in tunnelling towards new train stations at Crows Nest and North Sydney. The two TBMs will make its journey all the way to a temporary construction site at Blues Point, where the machines are going to be retrieved.
The fifth TBM - to be launched at a later date - is going to be specifically designed to excavate the twin tunnels that will run deep under the Sydney Harbour.
Sydney Metro Northwest is anticipated to begin operations by the second quarter of this year, delivering 13 new train stations together with 36 kilometres of new metro rail and up to 4,000 commuter car parking spaces.
Once the entire Sydney Metro has been completed, it will be able to provide commuters with trains running every two to four minutes - a “game changer” for the region’s transport system.
“Sydney Metro will free up capacity across the rail network, and these tunnel boring machines will help deliver it as quickly as possible,” Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance said.
Sydney Metro City and Southwest is expected to be completed in 2024.
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Source: Transport for NSW; The Daily Telegraph; The Sydney Morning Herald
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