A tunnel borer has smashed into what will become Westmead Station, marking the completion of tunnelling at the western end of the Sydney Metro West line.
The tunnel will enable a future Metro service of just 22-minutes between Westmead and the Sydney CBD.
Once complete, the city-shaping Metro West will link the Westmead to the Sydney CBD through Parramatta, Olympic Park and Five Dock in a 22-minute trip - doubling the rail capacity between those two centres.
Tunnel Boring Machine Betty worked around the clock for 2 years at a progress rate of about 200 metres a week to build the nine-kilometre tunnel from Sydney Olympic Park.
During that time, it chewed through 790,000 tonnes of earth - enough to fill 130 Olympic swimming pools – and lined the tunnel walls with 30,000 concrete segments along the way.
Fittingly, it was Betty – which is named after Olympic sprint champion Betty Cuthbert – that reached the finish line at Westmead – with TBM Dorothy about a kilometre behind and due to arrive in coming weeks.
At the other end of the Metro West line, the first of two tunnel boring machines has started cutting its way underneath Darling Harbour to complete the final section of the eastern end of the future Sydney Metro West.
Sydney Metro West has a target open date of 2032.
The project will slash current travel times to:
• Westmead - Parramatta in 2 minutes
• Westmead - Five Dock 14 minutes
• Westmead - Pyrmont in 20 minutes
• Westmead - Hunter Street in 22 minutes
New metro rail at Westmead will support the movement of millions of visitors and workers who each day access the area’s four major hospitals, five world-leading medical research institutes and two university campuses.
Westmead Station will be withing walking distance of the health and education facilities and integrate seamlessly with existing nearby transport options including T1 and T5 line trains at nearby Westmead Station, Parramatta Light Rail, the T-way and local buses.
Betty will now be dismantled before it is lifted out of the station box piece by piece over the next seven weeks.
A crew of up to 150 workers at a time have spent three years building the 500-metre underground cavern at Westmead. It is the deepest station on the Metro West line, at up to 39 metres below ground.
Premier Chris Minns said:
“This is an exciting milestone in the delivery of the Sydney Metro West project.
“With this breakthrough at what will become Westmead station, we are well on the way with this city shaping piece of transport infrastructure.
“20 minutes from the centre of the city to the heart of Parramatta – this will change the way Sydney grows and works into the future.”
Minister for Transport John Graham said:
“Seeing the first tunnel reach the end of the line, and the project’s furthest point west, is a moment to celebrate as the community here in the heart of western Sydney looks forward to its own Metro line.
“Westmead Station is going to be so important in plugging the health district into the rest of Sydney, with a two minute journey to Parramatta and then just 20 minutes to the Sydney CBD.
“This line will deliver more than just passengers, it will bring jobs and economic activity.”
