The last tunnel boring machine (TBM) has been launched on Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel project from the site of the future Arden Station in North Melbourne.
With the addition of TBM Meg, all four TBMs are now deployed to build the nine-kilometre twin tunnels for the project.
Each of the TBMs are named after prominent Victorian women – Victoria’s first female Premier Joan Kirner, Australian women’s cricket team Captain Meg Lanning, Victoria’s first female Member of Parliament Lady Millie Peacock, and medical hero Alice Appleford.
Joan and Meg were first launched in 2019 and completed 1.2 kilometres of tunnelling from Arden to the western tunnel entrance in Kensington earlier this year.
The machines were then disassembled and some of the pieces were returned to Arden Station by trucks, the other parts were pulled back through the tunnels for reassembly.
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TBM Joan was then relaunched in May from Arden towards the site of Parkville Station.
The other two TBMs Millie and Alice were launched in April and May respectively. Millie is digging the first tunnel between Anzac Station and the Metro Tunnel’s eastern entrance at South Yarra. Alice is now creating the parallel tunnel.
Construction at Parkville Station has also progressed, with the excavation of the station box at Grattan Street now complete. At the site of the future State Library Station 50 steel columns are now being installed.
The Metro Tunnel is expected to be completed in 2025 and will allow for more trains to run to the suburbs and reduce travel times by running busy lines under Melbourne’s CBD.