By rosebell
In the coming week first of 4 Herrenknecht TBMs, which are due to advance for SRL East project, will arrive on site. With the aim of excavating 16kms of twin tunnels between Cheltenham and Glen Waverley,theseTBMs will be in the ground in 2026, whereas its contractor is Suburban Connect, a global consortium of renowned companies CPB Contractors, Ghella and Acciona Construction.
In order to significantly decreasing the carbon footprint of SRL works, after being used on the Sydney Metro project, two of the machines are slated to be remanufactured. The used power source for all 4 TBMs will be 100% renewable electricity.
With almost 120_150m length and 7.24m diameter, the first TBMs will commission from Clarinda and its weekly drive will be up to 90m, 2 travelling south to Cheltenham and 2 north towards Glen Waverley. The scheduled date for arrival of TBMs on site for assembly is late 2025, while the tunneling process is due to start early 2026.
As a world first, one of the crews operating the TBMs will be an all women team, and over than 650 women have already applied for selection.
Intending to match ground conditions along the SRL East alignment, two types of TBMs are going to be used that 2 of which are slurry machines and will be used in the northern section, and 2 convertible machines will be used in the softer ground further south. Among Heatherton and Cheltenham these 2 machines will be converted from slurry to EPB machines in a Victorian first.
Including the TBM start up site in Burwood and the tunnel access structure in Heatherton, construction of SRL East between Cheltenham and Box Hill is undergoing with works underway at all 6 station sites.
The funder of this project are the Labor Government with an $11.8 billion investment and a $2.2 billion investment of the Albanese Labor Government.
The determined date for inaugurating SRL East is 2035, opening up access to jobs, healthcare and education in Melbourne’s east and south east, and delivering a train service for the first time to Monash and Deakin universities.
