By rosebell
Considering breakthrough of two TBMs which are constructing the Sydney Metro West tunnels through 24m beneath the surface at the Clyde Metro junction caverns, this latest landmark means that over 80% of the 24km twin metro railway tunnels has been completed.
Following spending three months tunneling 1.1km from Clyde, TBM Dorothy broke through the solid rock walls to arrive at the junction caverns in previous month.
Being slightly ahead, in December 2024 TBM Betty was arriving at Clyde junction caverns and spent seven weeks traversing the cavern and is now tunneling towards Parramatta.
Linking the metro tunnels with the above ground stabling and maintenance facility, where the network’s new fleet of trains is due to be housed when not in service, the junction cavern at Clyde will play a critical role in the Sydney Metro network.
The westward tunneling journey of TBMs Betty and Dorothy commenced in September 2024 and they have dug almost 200m of tunnel each week.
Constructing 5.7km of twin tunnels between Sydney Olympic Park and Clyde and excavating more than 1.1 million tonnes of material, so far the TBMs have installed more than 41,000 precast concrete segments, each weighing about 3.8 tonnes.
With the aim of reaching the site of the future Parramatta Metro Station by mid-year, both TBMs are now going to build a further 1.1km section of tunnels.
While in April 2023, tunneling process of the Sydney Metro West project was started, since then TBMs Betty and Dorothy have each built over 75% of the 9km of tunnels between Sydney Olympic Park and Westmead; whereas TBMs Daphne and Beatrice completed 11km of twin tunnels between The Bays and Sydney Olympic Park in October 2024; and TBMs Jessie and Ruby have completed 33% of the 2.3km tunnels between The Bays and Hunter Street in the Sydney CBD. Also responsibility of excavating the remaining 1.7km of the alignment is up to roadheader machines.
As a project for doubling rail capacity between the Sydney CBD and Parramatta, Sydney Metro West is scheduled to inaugurate in 2032.
According to New South Wales premier Chris Minns: “The latest breakthrough was another huge step forward as we deliver the largest new public transport project Western Sydney has seen in generations while also turbocharging the delivery of new homes.”
