Victorians will play an important part in the Andrews Labour Government’s Metro Tunnel and West Gate Tunnel projects, naming the six gigantic tunnel boring machines (TBMs) that will begin digging beneath Melbourne from early next year.
On the 9th September 2018 the Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan and the Minister for Roads Luke Donnellan launched a state-wide competition inviting Victorians to name the TBMs that will construct the West Gate Tunnel and the Metro Tunnel.
Six winners will be chosen and invited onto a Metro Tunnel or West Gate Tunnel worksite next year to watch as the TBM they named is assembled.
The West Gate Tunnel TBMs will be the biggest ever used in the Southern Hemisphere – almost as long as three E-class trams and as tall as the top of the dome at Flinders Street Station. The Metro Tunnel TBMs will be 100 m long, weighing up to 1,000 t and have a diameter of 7.2 m.
Collectively, the six TBMs will create around 25 km of tunnel, operating like moving factories as they excavate up to 40 m beneath Melbourne, boring through rock and soil, transporting the material to the surface for disposal and progressively installing a concrete lining behind them to seal the tunnel.
Click here for the TBM naming competition which closes on 7th October. Enter the name of a Victorian woman, living or past, who broke serious ground, followed by 25 words explaining your choice. There are ground-breaking women all over Victoria, and Metro Tunnel wants to hear their stories. Click here and au/32 for tunnelbuilder archive for more information about the Metro Tunnel. And click here and au/35 for tunnelbuilder archive about the West Gate Tunnel. Also visit https://metrotunnel.vic.gov.au/ and https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/. 37/18.
