The Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti inaugurated the tunneling works that will be made by TBM “Grace” from the future Forrestfield Station site to Bayswater. This is the first TBM that will perform the underground works on 8 km distance from Forrestfield Station to Bayswater.
“It is a pleasure to mark the start of the two-year journey these machines will make under our city to deliver this brand new rail corridor,” McGowan said.
Within Forrestfield-Airport Link project, the second TBM “Sandy” is currently being assembled onsite and will soon be lowered into the 12m-deep dive structure at Forrestfield ready to start tunnelling in September. The TBMs begin tunnelling from the Forrestfield dive structure, which took seven months to construct. The structure is 260 m long and up to 22m wide, and if turned on its side would be taller than any building in the Perth CBD. A total of 14,000m3 of concrete was used in its construction.
Diaphragm walls were completed for the Airport Central station box. Excavation has commenced to remove soil from within the box and this will be ongoing for the next six months. When excavation is complete the station’s concrete base will be poured to seal the structure. Construction of the station box must be complete prior to the arrival of TBM Grace in early 2018.
The Perth’s newest rail line, Forrestfield-Airport Link, is one of Western Australia’s most transformational public transport projects, providing a direct link between the growing foothills and the CBD, with three new train stations at Forrestfield, Airport Central and Belmont. Within the USD 1.5 billion project, three new stations will be constructed (Belmont Station, Airport Central Station and Forrestfield Station).
In April 2016 Salini Impregilo-NRW Joint Venture (SI-NRW) was awarded the AUD 1.176 billion (USD 927 million) contract for the design, construction and a 10- year maintenance period once the project is complete in 2020.
“Once completed the project will provide Forrestfield passengers with a 20-minute central business district journey option, while Perth Airport users will have a direct, 18-minute journey to the central business district,” Federal Minister for Urban Infrastructure Paul Fletcher said.
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