The TBM for the City Rail Link project awarded to Link Alliance, a group of 7 companies ,  is due to arrive in Auckland next spring. It will bore twin tunnels under the city centre. The $13 million Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), built by Herrenknecht  at the company’s factory in China, will arrive on the site in pieces later this year and be assembled in front of the Link Alliance Mt Eden portal site. 

Tunnelling is scheduled to begin in February 2021. The TBM will take 9 months to complete the first 1.6 km-long journey from Mt Eden to the Aotea Station site in central Auckland. Once it reaches the Aotea site, the TBM will be hauled out of the ground, dismantled and trucked back to Mt Eden to do it all again for the second tunnel. Excavation of the second tunnel is planned to start in January 2022. 

The TBMs, diameter is 7.15 m, weighs 1600 t,  and will tunnel up to 32 m/day,  excavating  up to 2,600 t of spoil,  transferred by conveyor belt to the Mt Eden site and then to disused quarries.

A crew of approximately 12 will operate the TBM underground. After tunnelling the TBM will be returned to Herrenknecht. 

 TBM naming competition

City Rail Link and the Link Alliance, a consortium  composed by seven companies, which will operate the  TBM to complete the tunnels, are running the TBM naming competition! Anyone in New Zealand over five can suggest a name on-line http://www.digcrl.co.nz, submissions close on 05/03/2020. The top three names will be selected by an internal panel for New Zealanders to vote on  and voting will take place between 12-26 March. The winner will be announced on 31 March! 

Click here and nz/15 for the tunnelbuilder archive. For further information please click this link  https://www.cityraillink.co.nz/.09/20.