By rosebell
Following arrival of two TBMs at Parramatta’s metro station site, almost 90% tunneling for Sydney Metro West was completed.
While the location that TBM Dorothy arrived after breaking through a solid rock wall was Parramatta in last week, TBM Betty is already 175m into its final stretch of tunnel to Westmead after departing Parramatta on July 17.
The date of commissioning these machines was 17 months ago for constructing the 7km tunnels between Sydney Olympic Park and Parramatta, and they have dug around 1.25 million tonnes of earth and installed more than 48,000 precast concrete segments, each weighing up to four tonnes.
On August 9 the future Parramatta metro station will host a community open day and allow the public to see TBM Dorothy in the station box.
Completing the main line tunnels at the western end of the line by the end of the year will be up to both TBMs.
TBMs Jessie and Ruby recently made a double breakthrough at the Pyrmont metro station cavern.
Including at The Bays, Five Dock, Burwood North, North Strathfield Sydney Olympic Park and Westmead, six of the nine station boxes for the Sydney Metro West project have been bored and lined, whereas work continues at Parramatta, Pyrmont and the Hunter Street station in the Sydney CBD.
Providing about 100 new homes, office and retail spaces, dining and entertainment, Parramatta metro station is due to anchor a mixed-use development of four buildings spanning 24,150m2 over the equivalent of two city blocks.
Linking directly to the new Civic Link, a 450m-long pedestrian spine connecting the metro precinct to the future Powerhouse Parramatt, this new transit hub is going to be a short stroll to nearby Eat Street, adjacent to light rail services.
As a new 24km underground metro railway, Sydney Metro West project will double rail capacity between Parramatta and the Sydney CBD and the scheduled date for its inauguration is 2032.
