The NSW Government has announced that the Northwest Rapid Transit consortium has been selected as the preferred operator to deliver the project’s operations contract. Click au/11. The first of the four North West Rail Link TBMs is on its way to Australia from France via China. TBM1, named Elizabeth after colonial pioneer Elizabeth Rouse, will be in the ground by October at the Bella Vista tunnelling site, from where it will dig 9 km to Cherrybrook and where major excavation of the site has reached almost 10 m. The second TBM will be in the ground by the end of this year, also to be launched at Bella Vista. TBMs 3 and 4 are currently being manufactured and will be delivered to the Cherrybrook tunnelling site, where they will dig 6 km to Epping. All four TBMs will build Australia’s longest railway tunnels – 15 km twin tunnels from Bella Vista to Epping, with the tunnelling contract due to be completed in 2017. Click here for a TBM video and here for tunnelbuilder atchive. Visit http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/b2b/releases/20140624-major-milestones-reached-on-nwrl-preferred-operator-selected.pdf. 26/14.