The 130 m long TBM Dame Whina Cooper  has reached 60 m on its journey towards the Karangahape station under construction,  830 m away from its Mt Eden starting point.

The red rollers (see above photo) are part of the conveyor system and the large "shoes" which are bolted to the lining have the reaction arms attached which lead to a full steel ring. This allows the TBM to push against these arms and shoes thus pushing the TBM forward. These will be removed once the TBM is far enough in so as to be able to rely on ground friction.  

The TBM - when it reaches the new mid-town Aotea station construction site at the end of the year - will be returned to Mt Eden and reassembled to excavate the second tunnel. The TBM will take about 9 months to excavate each tunnel as the TBM is travelling at an average of 15 m a day.  

While the TBM is driving towards the new Karangahape Station,  the Link Alliance team back at the construction site have started to build the second mined tunnel. It’s now 20 m deep and tunnelling is being done 24 hours a day. The team need to mine 150m deep into the ground to create a cavern tunnel that will later connect to the tunnel bored by the TBM.

Click here to follow the TBMs progress, here and nz/15 for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://www.cityraillink.co.nz/. 25/21.