By Rose Bell
In order to excavating the twin 6.3 kilometre tunnels on the western segment of the Eglington Crosstown West Extension,TBMs Renny and Rexy have driven two years, and during this period the twin TBMs have been leading the progress on the underground segments of the western parts of the extension.
Constructing seven new stations along the route, the project is going to bring the Eglinton Crosstwon LRT services 9.2 kilometres further west than before after completion.
The quantity of removed soil and rock by Rexy and Renny over their journey was almost 1.2 million tonne, installing more than 52,000 pre-cast concrete segments, and ultimately building 7,433 rings to support the tunnel walls.
The responsibility of building the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension is up to WestEnd Connectors Construction, consisting of Dragados Canada, Inc., Aecon Infrastructure Management Inc., and Ghella Canada Ltd.
For constructing two parallel tunnels stretching 6.3 kilometers from Renforth Drive in Mississauga to west of Scarlett Road in Etobicoke, the 750-tonne, 131-metre-long TBMS advanced through the earth, where the future line is due to come to the surface and transition to a 1.5-kilometre elevated section.
Currently, in order to laying the foundations and form the structure of the future tunnel portal,work will continue at the extraction shaft.
The scheduled date for compeleting work on the passageways that connect the tunnels by crews is the coming months.
Crews are also preparing work sites from east of Jane Street and Mount Dennis Station to excavate the eastern underground section of the line, which will connect the extension to future Eglinton Crosstown LRT service.
