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https://thewest.com.au/news/perth/t...gh-to-new-perth-airport-station-ng-b88841857z

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Tunneling machine breaks through to new Perth Airport station

Dylan CapornThe West Australian
Sunday, 20 May 2018 3:02PMDylan Caporn

Tunnel boring machine breaks through to the airport central station box

Tunnel boring work on the Forrestfield Airport Link has reached a milestone point, breaking through the new station wall at the weekend.

The breakthrough, which was delayed for more than a month earlier this year because of ground disturbances, means a quarter of the 8km of tunneling work has been completed.

Over the weekend, both machines, named Sandy and Grace, broke through a concrete wall at the new airport station, 17m below the surface.

The machine were guided through the 12.5m block over a period of 24 hours, with a team of 15 present inside each machine for the final breakthrough.

Premier Mark McGowan said the tunneling work would continue after a month of maintenance, with both machines heading toward the new Redcliffe station.


The tunnel boring machine breaks through to the Perth Airport station.Picture: Wa Government

“These breakthroughs are an exciting milestone for this Metronet project – the station construction workers and machine operators are to be congratulated,” he said

“The scale of these machines are incredible, they are taller than a two-storey house, and the footage of them boring into the box structure is equally impressive.”