The 150 m, 1,100 t Herrenknecht TBM is specially designed to tunnel beneath the city centre through Sydney’s hard sandstone geology.
Under the AU$2.81 billion tunnelling contract, awarded to a John Holland–CPB Contractors–Ghella Joint Venture, the five TBMs will deliver twin 15.5 km metro tunnels from Chatswood to Sydenham.
Two of the TBMs will tunnel 6.2 km from Chatswood to the edge of Sydney Harbour, two will tunnel 8.1 km from Marrickville to Barangaroo, and the fifth will deliver twin 1 km tunnels under Sydney Harbour.
When all components of the TBM arrive at the launch site in Marrickville, including the 100 t cutter head, the machine will be assembled and tested.
Once operational, the TBM is expected to churn through an average of 120 m per week, first working its way to the new Waterloo Station, before continuing under the CBD through new metro sites at Central, Pitt Street, Martin Place and finally on to Barangaroo Station.
Tunnelling is scheduled to start before the end of 2018.
For more information visit the Sydney Metro website.
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First published 3 September 2018.