By rosebell
The commissioning process of two Herrenknecht TBMs that are due to dig Melbourne’s North East Link road tunnels are going to commence.
While the location of launch shaft is in Watsonia, TBM cutterheads have been lowered into place and currently TBMs will be tested and launched before they start boring south towards Bulleen. Almost 44,000 segments will be installed by these machines along the 6.5km tunnels.
As the biggest being used in the southern hemisphere, the TBMs will have 15.6m diameter 90m length and weigh more than 4,000 tonnes, following assembly.
They average daily advance of thse machines will be 10m and up to 45m beneath ground.
While the scheduled date for completing the tunneling process is 2026 inauguration of the tunnels will be in 2028. As the longest road tunnels in Victoria, the twin three-lane tunnels are slated to connect the M80 Ring Road to the Eastern Freeway.
The contract to build, operate and maintain the tunnels and key interchanges, was awarded to Spark consortium, comprising Webuild, GS Engineering and Construction, CPB Contractors, China Construction Oceania, Ventia, Capella Capital, John Laing Investments, DIF and Pacific Partnerships.
