Tunnelling is powering ahead on Melbourne’s $11.1bn North East Link, as the first of two 15.6m diameter Herrenknecht TBMs has excavated the first kilometre of the North East Link tunnels from Watsonia to Bulleen.
TBM Zelda and TBM Gillian – which are now under Yallambie – launched earlier this year and are well on their way digging the 6.5km tunnels. TBM Zelda is excavating the northbound tunnel and has completed the 1000m milestone, while TBM Gillian has just passed 700m on the southbound tunnel.
The machines are being driven by the Spark Consortium, which was awarded the contract to deliver the North East Link Tunnels towards the end of 2021. The consortium comprises WeBuild, CPB Contractors, GS Engineering and Construction, China Construction Oceania, Ventia, Capella Capital, John Laing, DIF and Pacific Partnerships.
The machines are installing the concrete segments made locally in Benalla. Concrete culverts made in Echuca are also being installed behind each TBM to form a service route for maintenance vehicles inside the tunnels.
Next year the TBMs will break through near Lower Plenty Road where on and off ramps are being built, before they relaunch underground and continue their journey towards Bulleen.
In the southern section of the North East Link tunnels, mined tunnelling is underway between Manningham Road and Trinity Grammar, with five large road headers chipping away at the rock layer deep underground and spraying concrete to support the roof and sides of the tunnel.
Tunnelling will be up to 45m underground to build the road that will pass traffic under instead of through local suburbs.
More than 8000 workers are currently working across North East Link as part of 12,000 jobs the project is creating. 2.5% of work hours will be completed by First Nations people and 10% of work hours delivered by apprentices, trainees and cadets, opening the door to job opportunities on the state’s biggest road project.
The tunnels are being built using 100% renewable electricity, and dirt and rock from construction is being re-used across North East Link and other transport sites where possible.
Tunnelling across the project will continue until 2026, with North East Link expected to open to traffic in 2028. The project is funded in a joint partnership by the Australian and Victorian governments, and will fix the missing link in Melbourne’s road network, taking 15,000 trucks off local roads every day and cutting travel times by 35 minutes.
A TBM Tracker has also been launched on the Big Build website which will be updated regularly to keep up to date with tunnelling progress.
Herrenknecht
Pioneering Underground Technologies - Herrenknecht AG is the technology and market leader in mechanized tunnelling. As the only company worldwide, Herrenknecht delivers cutting-edge tunnel boring machines for all ground conditions and in all diameters - ranging from 0.10 to 19 meters.
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