KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 (Bernama) -- The Sydney Metro West - Western Tunnelling Package (WTP), awarded to the Malaysian company Gamuda Berhad, recently celebrated a significant milestone with the completion of the first two tunnel entries at Sydney Olympic Park metro station.
According to Sydney Metro’s website, the deployment of two mega autonomous tunnel boring machines (TBMs), named TBM Betty and TBM Dorothy, for the tunnelling project marks a historic first for Australia.
Other media outlets reported that this award-winning tunnelling technology was previously utilised in the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit Putrajaya Line in 2019.
In 2022, the New South Wales government awarded the WTP contract to the Gamuda-Laing O’Rourke consortium. The project aims to provide an efficient commute between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney central business district (CBD).
TBM Betty, named after Olympic champion Betty Cuthbert, was the first to arrive at Sydney Olympic Park in June, followed by TBM Dorothy, named after human rights activist Dorothy Buckland-Fuller, in July.
To reach Sydney Olympic Park, the TBMs spent ten months tunneling a distance of 4.6 kilometres from Clyde, where the future Sydney Metro West stabling and maintenance facility will be located.
TBMs Betty and Dorothy excavated approximately 857,500 tonnes of material, equivalent to 156 Olympic-sized swimming pools, to complete the first leg of the journey.
They also installed over 32,600 concrete precast segments to line the walls of the tunnel.
According to Sydney Metro, in the coming months, the TBMs will be disassembled, lifted out of the station box, and transported back to Clyde, where they will be relaunched in the opposite direction towards Westmead.
Both TBMs are expected to complete the tunnelling between Clyde and Westmead in mid-2025.
The Sydney Metro West will double the rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD.
The introduction of fast and reliable metro services will facilitate easier travel throughout western Sydney, connecting new communities to rail services and supporting both employment growth and housing supply.
-- BERNAMA
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