The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced this week that excavation has begun on the second tunnel for the Second Avenue Subway project in New York, USA.
Following completion of the first, 7162ft (2.18km) initial drive, the TBM was disassembled and returned to 92nd Street to begin the second, 7800ft (2.38km) tunnel.
The first 200ft (60.96m) of the drive will be through frozen ground. The alignment will curve sharply to the west into the existing 63rd Street Station with completion of the metro line by December 2016.
“Phase I of the Second Avenue Subway will serve more than 200,000 people per day, reducing overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue Line and restoring a transit link to a neighbourhood that lost the Second Avenue Elevated in 1940,” said MTA.
“When Phase One is complete, it will decrease crowding on the adjacent Lexington Avenue Line by as much as 13 per cent, or 23,500 fewer riders on an average weekday. It will also reduce travel times by up to 10 minutes or more (up to 27 per cent) for those on the far east side or those travelling from the east side to west midtown.”
