Delivery of the 24km Sydney Metro West twin tunnels connecting Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD is well underway, with two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) arriving at the Burwood North Metro Station site.
The TBMs have each built 6.26km of tunnel, so far excavating a combined 1,200,000t of dirt (around 196 Olympic swimming pools) and installing around 44,100 tunnelling segments to line the new tunnel walls.
The TBMs are more than halfway through the 11km journey to carve out a section of the alignment between The Bays and Sydney Olympic Park, via future station sites at Five Dock, Burwood North and North Strathfield.
It will take just over two weeks for the TBMs to traverse to the western end of the cavern where they will be relaunched to tunnel the 1.8km to the next stop at Metro’s North Strathfield station site.
TBMs Beatrice and Daphne are due to complete the journey to Sydney Olympic Park in the second half of 2024.
This enhanced project will double rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD, making it easier and faster to travel around Western Sydney.
It will also turbocharge the delivery of new housing along transport lines improving affordability of housing, while reducing building and infrastructure costs and creating thriving communities.
Sydney Metro West is expected to be complete by 2032.
New South Wales Premier, Chris Minns, said that this marks a major milestone in delivering this crucial new Metro line that will make it easier for people across Western Sydney to travel around the city, while addressing the housing crisis that has gripped the state.
“New South Wales is losing twice as many young people as we’re gaining, and it’s projects like this that create new homes for them that will play a critical role in making housing more affordable in New South Wales,” Mr Minns said.
“Thank you to the thousands of people that are working to build this mammoth project, the largest public transport project in Australia.”
New South Wales Minister for Transport, Jo Haylen, said that Daphne and Beatrice can almost see the finish line, being just under 5km away from their final destination, Sydney Olympic Park.
“These breakthroughs mean we are a step closer to delivering this once-in-a-century infrastructure investment in our city that will be a catalyst for housing growth across Sydney,” Ms Haylen said.
“When Burwood North Metro Station opens, it will be an exciting, state-of-the-art transport destination that will change the way people move in what is currently a very bus-dependent corner of our city, and it will take pressure off the existing T1 Western line.”
Image credit: RoseMarinelli/shutterstock.com
