Broadway tunnel boring machine literally makes a breakthrough

Aug 11, 2023

VANCOUVER — The first tunnel boring machine excavating the Broadway Subway project has broken through to the future Mount Pleasant Station.

The breakthrough occurred on the evening of Jan. 23 according to a news release.

The custom-built 150-metre-long machine, named Elsie after B.C. born aircraft designer Elizabeth MacGill, bored a six-metre-wide hole in the station's east wall.

The project will extend the Millennium Line from VCC-Clark Station to West Broadway and Arbutus Street.

The Broadway corridor is B.C.'s second-largest jobs centre.

The second tunnel boring machine, nicknamed Phyllis, is scheduled to reach Mount Pleasant Station in the spring. Each machine's journey to the future Arbutus Station is expected to take a year.

The 21 columns for the guideway between VCC-Clark Station and the future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station are nearing completion with girder installation for the track to begin in the spring.

Excavation and construction of the station foundations are underway at the Broadway-City Hall, Oak VGH, South Granville and Arbutus Station sites in anticipation for the tunnel boring machine arrivals.

The line is still scheduled to open in 2026.