Sydney Metro West tunnel boring machines reach Burwood North

The TBMs are more than halfway through the 11-kilometre journey to carve out a section of the alignment between The Bays and Sydney Olympic Park, via future station sites at Five Dock, Burwood North and North Strathfield.

This is the second stop for TBMs Beatrice and Daphne who broke through at Five Dock Station in December 2023.

The TBMs have each built 6.26 kilometres of tunnel, so far excavating a combined 1,200,000 tonnes of dirt (around 196 Olympic swimming pools) and installing around 44,100 tunnelling segments to line the new tunnel walls.

To prepare for the arrival of the TBMs, the Burwood North station box cavern was excavated and about 532,105 tonnes of material was removed to create the 29-metre-deep box-like structure that is 25 metres wide and 194 metres long.  

It will take just over two weeks for the TBMs to traverse to the western end of the cavern where they will be relaunched to tunnel the 1.8-kilometres to the next stop at North Strathfield Metro Station site.

TBMs Beatrice and Daphne are due to complete the journey to Sydney Olympic Park in the second half of 2024.

Autonomous TBMs Betty and Dorothy are also tunnelling to Sydney Olympic Park and are 3.31 and 2.67 kilometres into their journey respectively, as they build the tunnels in the opposite direction, towards Westmead. 

A further two TBMs are getting ready to launch this year from The Bays and will construct the 2.3-kilometre metro tunnels below Darling Harbour and into the Sydney CBD.  

Sydney Metro West will double rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD. It will make it easier and faster to travel around western Sydney, link new communities to rail services and support employment growth and housing supply.   

For more information on Sydney Metro West: sydneymetro.info/west/project-overview