Tunnelling has begun between Chatswood and the northern shore of Sydney Harbour, for the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project, while the first full test of the Sydney Metro Northwest has also taken place.
A tunnel boring machine named Wendy started digging the 6.2 kilometres of tunnel from Chatswood to the edge of Sydney Harbour at Blues Point this week.
Wendy will shortly be joined by another TBM which will drill the parallel tunnel. Once built, the twin tunnels will connect Chatswood to new stations at Crows Nest and Victoria Cross. The TBMs will be retrieved at Blues Point after their journey.
Another pair of TBMs, Nancy and Mum Shirl, have so far excavated 1.3 kilometres of tunnel from Marrickville, on their 8.1-kilometre trip to Barangaroo, at the southern shore of the Harbour.
A fifth, specialised TBM will be used to drill under the Harbour itself.
“With two more machines due to start work this year, the borers will build 31 kilometres of Sydney Metro tunnels between Marrickville and Chatswood, including the first rail tunnels under Sydney Harbour,” NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
Transport minister Andrew Constance said Sydney Metro City & Southwest would free up capacity across the rail network, and the massive TBMs would help get the project built faster.
“The borers are underground tunnelling factories, mechanical worms designed to dig and line the tunnels as they go,” he said.
Once built, Sydney Metro City & Southwest will link Chatswood to Bankstown via new track between Chatswood and Sydenham, and existing rails – which are to be retrofitted – between Sydenham and Bankstown.
Further north, the first full test of the first stage of Sydney Metro, known as Sydney Metro Northwest, was completed on Monday.
A train travelled 36 kilometres from the newly-built Tallawong Station to Chatswood Station’s new Metro platforms, as part of the testing process before the line is due to open later this year.
“When this Government makes a promise, it delivers and today’s milestone shows Australia’s first metro, the Northwest rail line, is around the corner,” Berejiklian said.
“When this line opens, there will be turn-up-and-go services every four minutes – massively improving the experience for residents throughout Sydney’s northwest.”