Massive Boring Machine Ready To Build The Metro Tunnel
23 August 2019
Tunnelling on the biggest
public
transport project ever built in
Victoria – the
Metro Tunnel – will start
next week.
Premier Daniel Andrews and Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta
Allan joined the workers at the future
North Melbourne Station site
today to wish the project’s first
Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Joan –
named after Victoria’s first female Premier Joan Kirner – well on her
journey towards Kensington, digging the Metro Tunnel.
A traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony was carried out to mark the
occasion, and the TBM was blessed by local priest Father Anthony Bernal.
In line with long-held tradition on tunnelling projects, work at the
site has been overseen by Saint Barbara, the patron saint of tunnellers
and miners since the 1500s.
The second TBM, named Meg after Australian women cricket captain Meg
Lanning, will also soon begin digging.
Each TBM is 7.28 metres wide, 120 metres long and weighs more than 1,100
tonnes. They will dig 24 hours a day for around three years, excavating
the twin nine-kilometre tunnels and sealing them with curved concrete
segments.
The TBMs are equipped with a state-of-the-art computerised navigation
system and 100-tonne cutterheads that will drive through hard rock and
soil under
Melbourne at a rate of up to 10 metres a day.
The Metro Tunnel will free up space in the City Loop to run more trains,
more often right across the city – creating capacity for more than half
a million extra passengers a week in the peak periods.
The project is expected to be complete in 2025. For more information,
visit metrotunnel.vic.gov.au.
Quotes attributable to Premier Daniel Andrews
“This huge machine has a long and arduous job ahead of it – digging the
Metro Tunnel and transforming our train network.”
“It’s wonderful to join the men and women who have got us to this point
– I thank them for their hard work and wish Joan all the best on her
journey underneath our city.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta
Allan
“I can’t wait to see this massive machine fire up and start building the
Metro Tunnel – which will create space for more trains and more
passengers, every day.”
“These workers are among the thousands of Victorians that are building
the roads and rail Victorians need as our state grows.”
--ENDS--
Source: Victorian Government - www.premier.vic.gov.au
Contact: N/A
External Links: metrotunnel.vic.gov.au
Recent news by: Victorian Government