Second tunnel

Dec 27, 2023

VANCOUVER — The second tunnel-boring machine for the Broadway Subway rapid transit-line is about to start digging through the earth under the streets of Vancouver.

The massive machine is fully assembled and will launch soon, according to a news release.

The first tunnel boring machine was launched on Oct. 7. The new machine will be identical to the other.

The two machines are six metres in diameter, 150 metres in length and weigh roughly two million pounds each.

The machines were manufactured in Germany and assembled on concrete slabs in Vancouver near Great Northern Way.

Due to a five-week strike affecting concrete supply earlier this year, the tunnel's expected completion has been moved from 2025 to 2026.

Once completed, the Broadway subway will extend the Millennium Line from VCC-Clark Station to the future Broadway and Arbutus station, states the release.

"More than half of the columns for the guideway between VCC-Clark and Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station are complete. Construction and fit out of the stations and tracks will begin once tunnel boring has finished," reads the release.

The province estimates construction will create 13,000 direct and indirect jobs.