First tunnel boring machines arrive for Sydney Metro West project

Dec 29, 2023

The Acciona Ferrovial JV has taken delivery of the first two tunnel boring machines on the Sydney Metro West scheme in New South Wales, Australia.

The Acciona Construction Australia and Ferrovial Construction Joint Venture (AF JV) ordered the two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) from German manufacturer Herrenknecht at the start of this year.

The New South Wales Government awarded the A$1.96bn (£1.1bn) central tunnelling contract on the Sydney Metro West project to AF JV in July 2021.

The TBMs have now arrived at the Bays Station site, which is in a new precinct 2km west of the Sydney central business district (CBD). Work on the tunnelling launch site began in November 2020. Four of Sydney Metro West's six TBMs will being their journeys from this site.

The full scheme involves 24km of twin tunnels, forming a new underground railway between the Greater Parramatta precinct and the Sydney CBD. The central section covers 11km from the Bays to Sydney Olympic Park.

The two TBMs, which will be the first ones in the ground for the project, include refurbished parts from the mega boring machines used on the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project. The cutterheads, front shields and gripper shields were originally used for the TBMs that dug the metro tunnels from Chatswood to Blues Point.

Each TBM is approximately 7m in diameter, 165m long, and weighs almost 1,300t.

Once launched, the newly arrived TBMs will excavate an average of 200m per week, with around 15 workers per shift operating each machine 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The machines have 38 disc cutters per cutterhead, each more than 48cm in diameter.

The heaviest pieces of the TBMs are the front shield and gripper shield, which weigh approximately 280t each.

The TBMs are due to start tunnelling from the Bays site in the first half of 2023 and are expected arrive in Sydney Olympic Park in late 2024.

Major works have now also started at the Sydney Olympic Park metro station. Excavation is underway on the 200m long, 37m wide and 27m deep station box, which will take 13 months to complete.

Sydney Metro West recently received planning approval for the final 3.5km eastern tunnel section between the Bays and Sydney CBD.

In March 2021, the project received its first major planning approval for the project concept between Westmead, a suburb in west Sydney, and the Sydney CBD, and station excavation and tunnelling between Westmead and the Bays external site.

The western tunnelling contract, covering 9km of rail tunnels between Sydney Olympic Park and Westmead, was awarded to a Gamuda and Laing O’Rourke Australia joint venture in March of this year.

When Sydney Metro West opens in 2030, it will double rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD, while linking new communities to rail services.

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