Two TBMs constructing the Sydney Metro West tunnels have broken through 24m below the surface at the Clyde Metro junction caverns.
This latest milestone means that over 80% of the 24km twin metro railway tunnels has been completed.
TBM Dorothy broke through the solid rock walls to arrive at the junction caverns last month, after spending three months tunnelling 1.1km from Clyde.
TBM Betty was slightly ahead, arriving at Clyde junction caverns in December last year. It spent seven weeks traversing the cavern and is now tunnelling towards Parramatta.
The junction cavern at Clyde will play a critical role in the Sydney Metro network as it connects the metro tunnels with the above ground stabling and maintenance facility, where the network’s new fleet of trains will be housed when not in service.
Since starting their westward tunnelling journey in September 2024, TBMs Betty and Dorothy have excavated about 200m of tunnel each week.
So far, the TBMs have built 5.7km of twin tunnels between Sydney Olympic Park and Clyde, excavating more than 1.1 million tonnes of material. They have installed more than 41,000 precast concrete segments, each weighing about 3.8 tonnes.
Both TBMs will now build a further 1.1km section of tunnels to reach the site of the future Parramatta Metro Station by mid-year.
Tunnelling on the Sydney Metro West project began in April 2023. Since then TBMs Betty and Dorothy have each built over 75% of the 9km of tunnels between Sydney Olympic Park and Westmead; TBMs Daphne and Beatrice completed 11km of twin tunnels between The Bays and Sydney Olympic Park in October 2024; and TBMs Jessie and Ruby have completed 33% of the 2.3km tunnels between The Bays and Hunter Street in the Sydney CBD. The remaining 1.7km of the alignment is being excavated by roadheader machines.
Sydney Metro West, which will double rail capacity between the Sydney CBD and Parramatta, is scheduled to open in 2032.
New South Wales premier Chris Minns said the latest breakthrough was “another huge step forward as we deliver the largest new public transport project Western Sydney has seen in generations while also turbocharging the delivery of new homes”.
