Water leak, sinkhole brings Perth airport tunnel construction to...

Water leak, sinkhole brings Perth airport tunnel construction to a halt
By Eliza Laschon
Updated 39 minutes ago

A water leak, which has led to the creation of a sinkhole, is continuing to delay the construction of Perth's new $1.8 billion airport tunnel.

Tunnelling for the new Forrestfield-Airport Link project was brought to an abrupt halt on Saturday afternoon.

The sinkhole appeared on Sunday morning, forcing the closure of Dundas Road.

PHOTO: Rita Saffioti says the priority is to stop the leak. (ABC News: David Weber)


WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said the leak was caused by activity from the creation of a "tunnel cross passage", a throughway that connects the tunnels to be used as an emergency exit when the rail line opens.

"It is a complex part of this project, and as I understand one of the most complex parts of building any tunnel — getting that cross passage constructed," Ms Saffioti said.

"There was checking done to make sure there was no water coming through, and as a result of that construction, something happened and they created a water flow.

"There will be a review into the method used to create future cross passages, and surveys are now being undertaken of the ground and the two tunnels in the vicinity of this particular cross passage."

The two boring machines, called TBM Grace and Sandy, are being used to dig the eight-kilometre tunnel from Forrestfield to Bayswater. But they have both been stopped until engineers find a way to stop the leak.

"The priority now is really for the team — and they've been working around the clock since this incident happened — to stop this leak, stop the flow, so that's the number one priority," Ms Saffioti said. “



There is more after this but I won’t paste it as it is not about the incident it’s the union saying “up to”15 people have quit and that it’s “third world conditions” and there have been other water spills as well as near fatal accidents plus a high turnover of workers.
..then politics stuff about government blame .

As it relates to the incident it seems the main tunnel is not compromised although one of the side shafts may be...