Works on the new 24-kilometre Sydney Metro West railway have reached a new milestone, with the arrival of two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) at Sydney Olympic Park to complete the first two tunnel entries for the future station.
The TBMs have spent 10 months completing the 4.6-kilometre tunnels from Clyde, where the future Sydney Metro West stabling and maintenance facility will be located, to reach Sydney Olympic Park.
TBMs Betty and Dorothy have excavated approximately 857,500 tonnes of material, to complete the first leg in the journey and have installed more than 32,600 concrete precast segments along the way to line the new tunnel walls.
In the coming months, the TBMs will be disassembled, lifted out of the station box and transported on trucks back to Clyde, where they will be relaunched in the opposite direction towards Westmead.
The focus at Sydney Olympic Park will now shift to the opposite end of the 200-metre-long, 37-metre-wide, and 27-metre-deep station box, where TBMs Beatrice and Daphne are due to break through in late 2024.
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Sydney Metro West will double rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD. Fast and reliable metro services will make it easier to travel around western Sydney, link new communities to rail services and support employment growth and housing supply.
Stations have been confirmed at Westmead, Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park, North Strathfield, Burwood North, Five Dock, The Bays, Pyrmont and Hunter Street in the Sydney CBD. Two potential station locations are being investigated west of Sydney Olympic Park, including one at Rosehill Gardens which could support a significant increase in housing.
The project’s newest addition, TBM Jessie is tunnelling from The Bays towards the Sydney CBD. The machine has excavated 230-metres of tunnel since its launch in May. The final TBM for the project is expected to begin the second under-harbour tunnel later this year.
This follows the opening of the Sydney Metro City Line earlier this week.
Sydney Metro West will target an opening date of 2032.