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Tunnelling 85 per cent complete for the Melbourne Metro Tunnel

Impression of the TBM under the Yarra River courtesy of Victoria’s Big Build.

Currently one of the Melbourne Metro Tunnel’s tunnel boring machines (TBM) is 12 metres under the bed of the Yarra River, excavating the project’s twin tunnels between South Yarra and the CBD.

Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan today toured TBM Millie, meeting the team of tunnellers who work day and night on the massive machine.

The machine is expected to take around two weeks to tunnel under the waterway and then a further 300 metres to Town Hall Station.

Underneath the surface of the Yarra River geological and environmental testing has shown that ground conditions include silt, gravel and basalt.

TBM Joan is progressing more than 30 metres below Swanson Street towards Town Hall Station. The last remaining TBM, Meg will be launched shortly and will also arrive at Town Hall Station later this year.

The TBMs will then have created twin 9km-long, 6.3m-high rail tunnels from Kensington under the Melbourne CBD to South Yarra.

The machines are staffed and monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and equipped with an office, kitchen and toilets.

Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan said tunnelling on the Metro Tunnel Project is heading into its final stages, with a TBM now digging under the Yarra, as it completes this incredible feat of engineering deep under Melbourne’s CBD.

We’ve almost got 18 kilometres of concrete-lined tunnel, while five new stations are taking shape underground with walls, roofs and platforms now being built – as we continue on the path to more trains, more often,” Allan said.

Town Hall station will be a gateway to Federation Square, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Arts Centre.

The Metro Tunnel Project will create additional capacity for more than half a million passengers a week during peak periods and transform the way Victorians travel around Melbourne.


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