New tunnelling academy opens in Western Sydney

The new state-of-the-art training facility in the heart of Western Sydney at Clyde, is managed by Sydney Metro West delivery partners Gamuda and Laing O’Rourke Consortium, who are building the tunnels from Westmead to Sydney Olympic Park.

The custom-designed, purpose-built learning facility specialises in the delivery of training activities in civil construction, safety, and tunnelling disciplines.

The facility is helping to upskill existing workers as well as connect new workers to the construction industry by building their capabilities and placing them in entry-level roles on the project.

This academy has specialised virtual reality simulators, which will simulate underground tunnelling operations, and a decommissioned tunnel boring machine to give trainees a real hands-on experience.

It is accessible to workers across all sectors of the industry and to members of the Western Sydney community who can access a full curriculum of nationally accredited training that forms part of the Australia Qualifications Framework.

Since opening in mid-2023, participants have successfully completed nearly 3,000 training courses across 192 accredited and non-accredited training programs. It is expected up to 10,000 people will benefit from the training programs on offer at the facility, with 260 people currently participating across 19 programs.

The facility is powered entirely by a solar farm located at the Clyde site and is one of the largest solar farms to be used on a Sydney Metro project to date.

Tunnelling is well underway on the 24-kilometre Sydney Metro West line between Westmead and Hunter Street in the Sydney CBD, with four out of the six tunnel boring machines currently in the ground. The project is expected to create about 10,000 direct and 70,000 indirect jobs during construction.

For more information about Sydney Metro West, visit sydneymetro.info/west/project-overview.