Two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) have broken through a rock wall to arrive at Five Dock metro station for Sydney Metro West project. These are the first TBMs in the southern hemisphere to complete a double breakthrough.
The TBMs have achieved the first two breakthroughs for Sydney Metro West as work powers ahead to build twin 24-km metro tunnels between Westmead and the Sydney CBD.
TBM Daphne broke through first, followed closely by TBM Beatrice, after building the 4.3-km section of metro tunnel from The Bays to Five Dock for around seven months.
The two 1,300-tonne machines will spend the next few weeks traversing to the western end of the station cavern. During this time, the machines will undergo all necessary maintenance before being relaunched to continue their journey to Sydney Olympic Park.
To date, the huge machines have excavated a total of 437,463 tonnes of material each and installed about 30,732 precast concrete segments to line the new tunnel walls.
To prepare for the arrival of the TBMs, the Five Dock station cavern was excavated with about 286,047 tonnes of material removed to create the underground box-like structure that is 22 metres wide and 30 metres deep.
Next stop for the TBMs is the Burwood North metro station site about 2 kilometres away, where they are due to arrive in early 2024.
The Sydney Metro West project will support a growing city and deliver world-class metro services to more communities.
Sydney Metro West project consists of a new underground railway that will connect Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD. Construction started on Sydney Metro West in 2020.
The infrastructure investment will transform the transport system in Sydney, doubling rail capacity between the two CBDs, linking new communities to rail services and supporting employment growth and housing supply. The project is expected to create about 10,000 direct and 70,000 indirect jobs during construction.
Sydney Metro West is a new 24-km metro line with stations confirmed at Westmead, Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park, North Strathfield, Burwood North, Five Dock, The Bays, Pyrmont and Hunter Street in the Sydney CBD.
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