TBM breakthrough at Sydney’s Olympic Park: TBM Betty has already returned to Clyde while TBM Dorothy’s disassembly is ongoing. (Image and caption by Sydney Metro).
THE Sydney Metro West – Western Tunnelling Package (WTP) has recently achieved significant milestones, with the arrival of two mega autonomous tunnel boring machines (TBMs) at Sydney Olympic Park to complete the first two tunnel entries for the future station.
The deployment of these autonomous TBMs on the Metro project marks a historic first for Australia.
This multi-award-winning tunnelling technology, developed by renowned Malaysian engineering, property and infrastructure company Gamuda – was used in the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit Putrajaya Line in 2019.
The government of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) awarded Gamuda the WTP contract in 2022 in a consortium with Laing O’Rourke. The project provides an efficient commute between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD.
TBM Betty, named after Olympic champion Betty Cuthbert, arrived at Sydney Olympic Park in June, followed by TBM Dorothy, named after human rights activist Dorothy Buckland-Fuller, in July.
To reach Sydney Olympic Park, the TBMs have spent ten months completing the 4.6km tunnels from Clyde, where the future Sydney Metro West stabling and maintenance facility will be located.
TBMs Betty and Dorothy have excavated approximately 857,500 tonnes of material, equivalent to 156 Olympic-sized swimming pools, to complete the first leg of the journey and have installed more than 32,600 concrete precast segments to line the new tunnel walls.
