Final farewell: Last Sydney Metro tunnel boring machines hit the road

The 1,100-tonne TBMs are the last on any active metro project, and have recently completed the new Sydney Metro West line after tunnelling from The Bays via Pyrmont and below Darling Harbour to Hunter Street in the Sydney CBD.  

Jessie and Ruby’s complex dig wraps an epic 34-month tunnelling program to carve out the 24-kilometre Sydney Metro West tunnels between Westmead and the Sydney CBD and brings to a close all tunnelling on four Sydney Metro projects.  

TBM Ruby’s dismantlement and retrieval has been ongoing for six weeks and the massive logistical operation is expected to continue for at least another four weeks, when TBM Jessie will be fully removed from site.  

Each machine is being lifted in around 16 major pieces from the station cavern 27-metres below ground and through the Hunter Street East shaft, an opening that will eventually form part of the passenger access linking street level to the station platforms.

The precision lifts are being carried out throughout the night to ensure minimal disruption while the giant machines are transported through the city streets.  

Each individual TBM piece takes up one 68-wheeler truck which heads down Elizabeth and Market streets and across the Anzac Bridge, joining the M7 motorway and continuing to Newcastle, where a selection of the pieces will be shipped back to the manufacturer, Herrenknecht.  

Key components of the TBMs, including the 90-tonne cutterheads, will be recycled. These parts cannot be reused as the steel has reached its wear limits, meaning refurbishment would not guarantee the durability required for another tunnelling project.

Once the TBMs are retried, reinforcement and lining work can continue in the Hunter Street cavern.

Sydney Metro West will double rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD, delivering faster, easier and more reliable journeys, while supporting jobs, housing growth and new communities across western Sydney.  

Sydney Metro tunnelling snapshot across Sydney Metro North West, Western Sydney Airport, City and West:  

• 128-kilometres – total distance tunnelled across all four projects  
• 19 TBMs used in total, some included refurbished parts from previous TBMs  
• 58 TBM breakthroughs navigated  
• 14.7 million tonnes of earth – enough to fill Allianz Stadium 9,800 times over – excavated, most of which was reused across other Sydney projects  
• 416,000 concrete tunnel segments installed to line the tunnel walls  
• Two new rail tunnels under Sydney Harbour