Broadway subway: 2nd tunnel

Dec 23, 2023

Crews building Vancouver's Broadway subway have marked another milestone, with the second of two tunnel-boring machines breaking through at Broadway-City Hall station.

In a media release, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said the machine, nicknamed ‘Phyllis,’ arrived at the station Friday.

The boring machine is named after Phyllis Munday, the founder of Girl Guides in B.C. and a mountaineer who helped document the Coast Mountains.

According to the ministry, Phyllis has already chewed through 1,350 metres of subterranean earth and rock, and has installed 884 liner rings to support he subway tunnel.

The breakthrough comes just over a month after Phyllis's partner machine, Elsie, also broke through at the Broadway-City Hall station site.

Both pieces of equipment are undergoing maintenance before relaunching on the west side of the station to continue boring to the Oak-VGH, Granville and terminus Arbutus stations.

The Broadway-City Hall station, which currently serves the Canada Line, is undergoing significant expansion to handle the additional commuter volume and connection between the two lines.

At 20 metres depth, the station is the deepest on the Millennium Line subway extension, allowing for the east-west line to pass beneath the north-south Canada Line.

It will also include a space for a crossover section of track where Millennium Line trains can switch direction if needed.

The finished subway project will see the Millennium Line extend from its current terminus at VCC-Clark to Arbutus Street, a 5.7 kilometre route including six stations, five of which are underground.

The $2.8 billion project is slated for completion in 2026.