TBM Peggy has broken through into the 25m deep Airport Terminal station box at the future Airport Terminal station in a major milestone for the Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport project. The machine completed this first leg of its 5.5km journey to the Aerotropolis, following on from TBM Eileen, who made her first breakthrough last month.
Peggy has worked around the clock at an average speed of 120m per week to build the fully lined 1.26km tunnel from the Airport Business Park.
The TBM will now traverse the station box before being relaunched, to tunnel under the future Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport, with the TBM expected to arrive at the Aerotropolis metro station site in 2024.
A total of four TBMs will build the 9.8km long twin tunnels for the Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport railway line between St Marys and the Aerotropolis.
TBM Eileen is boring the metro tunnel alongside TBM Peggy from Airport Business Park to the Aerotropolis. TBM Catherine and TBM Marlene have begun their 4.3km journey from Orchard Hills to St Marys.
A joint venture between CPB Contractors and Ghella was awarded the $1.8bn Station Boxes and Tunnelling contract in 2021 to deliver 9.8km of twin metro tunnels, five station boxes and two services facilities shafts for the Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport project.
The line will be operational when Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport opens for passenger services in 2026, with an expected travel time of 15 minutes from St Marys metro station to the Airport Terminal Station and a further five minutes to the Aerotropolis Station.
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