The tunnel boring machine (TBM) Nancy was officially launched on 17 October to deliver twin new metro railway tunnels below the centre of Sydney and deep under Sydney Harbour.
Nancy and another TBM will tunnel 8.1 km from Marrickville to the new Sydney Metro station sites at Waterloo, Central, Pitt Street, Martin Place and on to Barangaroo, where they will be removed from deep underground. Two TBMs will also dig 6.2 km from Chatswood to the edge of Sydney Harbour.
Nancy is specially designed to cut through sandstone and shale and will tunnel an average of 120 metres a week.
The TBM Nancy is one of the five mega borers which will build 31 km of tunnels between Marrickville and Chatswood. A fifth machine has been specially designed to deliver the twin tunnels under Sydney Harbour. The five TBMs will excavate 5.9 million tonnes of rock, enough to fill about 940 Olympic swimming pools.
Under the Stage 2, Sydney Metro City and Southwest, a 30-km extension of metro rail will be constructed from the end of Sydney Metro Northwest at Chatswood under Sydney Harbour, through new CBD stations and south west to Bankstown. It is due to open in 2024 with seven new metro stations and 11 upgraded stations.
In 2024, Sydney will have 31 metro railway stations and a 66-km metro system, revolutionising the way Australia’s biggest city travels.
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