Sydney Metro West has achieved a world-first in tunnel construction with a Lining Erector Machine (LEM) successfully being used to line the mined service tunnels that connect to the future stabling and maintenance facility at Clyde.
The LEM is approximately 55 metres long and six metres wide and has been custom-designed to line the two 700-metre service tunnels with precast segments, which were manufactured at the project’s Eastern Creek precast yard.
Traditionally, tunnels excavated by roadheaders require cast-in-situ lining. This is unlike tunnels built using tunnel boring machines (TBMs), which have the capability to both excavate and install tunnel segments to line the tunnel walls as they move.
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Lining the service tunnels in the usual way would have involved assembling large formwork sections, pumping concrete from the surface, and staging multiple pours.
Instead, project engineers adapted the LEM while on the job, enabling it to complete an entire tunnel ring, built by piecing together four segments.
Weighing 310 tonnes, the LEM has installed 3438 segments and takes around 60 minutes to build a complete ring (four segments). It took two months to line the final service tunnel, which measures 762 metres in length and six metres in diameter.
For more information, visit: www.sydneymetro.info/
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