The final Sydney Metro West tunnel boring machines (TBMs) have arrived at The Bays Station site, where they will commence tunnelling this year.
The TBMs will carve out the 2.3 km twin tunnels from The Bays, under Sydney Harbour, to Hunter Street in the central business district (CBD) as part of the Sydney Metro West - Eastern Tunnelling Package (ETP). These are the last of six TBMs being used for tunnelling on the Sydney Metro West line.
They arrived in 32 pieces at White Bay port during March onboard an AAL Shipping’s multipurpose vessel AAL Nanjing. They were discharged using the ship’s own gear onto SPMTs, which were used to haul the components to the project site. Here cranes from Marr Contracting assisted in the discharge operations.
Both 1,100-tonne machines will journey parallel to the Anzac Bridge, heading to the new Pyrmont Station site, and then under Darling Harbour before reaching the Hunter Street Station site in the heart of the CBD.
Once launched, the TBMs will tunnel at an average rate of 90 m per week and will arrive at the Hunter Street Station site in mid-2025. The Sydney Metro West project is scheduled to finish by 2032.
There is a video here
