The Sydney Metro West project has recently achieved a slew of tunnelling milestones, including overseeing the arrival of two mega tunnel boring machines (TBMs) at Sydney Olympic Park to complete the first two tunnel entries for the future station.
TBM Betty, named after Olympic champion Betty Cuthbert, was first to arrive at Sydney Olympic Park in June and was followed by TBM Dorothy, named after human rights activist Dorothy Buckland-Fuller, on 29 July.
The TBMs have spent 10 months completing the 4.6-kilometre tunnels from Clyde, where the future Sydney Metro West stabling and maintenance facility will be located, to reach Sydney Olympic Park.
TBMs Betty and Dorothy have excavated approximately 857,500 tonnes of material, equivalent to nearly 156 Olympic-sized swimming pools, to complete the first leg in the journey and have installed more than 32,600 concrete precast segments along the way to line the new tunnel walls.
In the coming months, the TBMs will be disassembled, lifted out of the station box and transported on trucks back to Clyde, where they will be relaunched in the opposite direction towards Westmead.
TBM Betty has already returned to Clyde, while TBM Dorothy’s disassembly is ongoing. Both TBMs are expected to arrive at Westmead in mid-2025.
The focus at Sydney Olympic Park will now shift to the opposite end of the 200-metre-long, 37-metre-wide, and 27-metre-deep station box, where TBMs Beatrice and Daphne are due to break through in late 2024.
TBMs Beatrice and Daphne are building a 11-kilometre section of the line between The Bays and Sydney Olympic Park and have recently relaunched from North Strathfield. The TBMs have two more kilometres of tunnel to build before completing the final leg in the journey to Sydney Olympic Park.
The Sydney Metro West project’s newest addition, TBM Jessie is tunnelling from The Bays towards the Sydney CBD at a slow and steady pace, inching its way underground alongside the Anzac Bridge. The huge machine has excavated 230-metres of tunnel since its launch in May. The final TBM for the project is expected to begin the second under-harbour tunnel later this year.
Sydney Metro West will double rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD. Fast and reliable metro services will make it easier to travel around western Sydney, link new communities to rail services and support employment growth and housing supply.
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