Roadheaders start tunnelling towards Boggo Road - Two 115t roadheaders  have started to mine the remainder of the 870 m Cross River Rail twin tunnels between Woolloongabba and Boggo Road.  The two machines, which helped to excavate Woolloongabba’s station cavern, will now use their rotating excavating heads – known as ‘pineapples’ – to excavate between two to five metres of rock per day.  

The 22-m-long machines will also excavate three cross passages between the twin tunnels roughly 240 m apart and another temporary cross passage. They are able to excavate about 60t of rock per hour, and are expected to remove about 86,000 cubic metres of spoil to make way for Cross River Rail’s twin tunnels. Each roadheader’s ‘pineapple’ will wear away more than 30 picks during an eight-hour shift. The roadheaders are expected to break through to the new Boggo Road underground station site by the end of the year. 

Albert Street station construction 

Throughout February, works will continue at each of the three Albert Street station construction sites. This includes ongoing excavation for the future main station entrance (Lot 1), ongoing tunnelling activities within the acoustic shed to excavate the Albert Street underground station platform cavern (Lot 2) and ongoing bored piling and ground retention activities at the northern station entrance site (Lot 3).  

Woolloongabba station construction update 

During February, tunnelling will start north and south from the Woolloongabba site. Station box works, including cavern excavation, will continue. 

Activities on site will include: 

• starting of TBM excavation:  TBM 1 Else has been assembled within the station box and will be the first to start excavation to the northern tunnel portal at Spring Hill. Oversized deliveries for TBM 2 Merle assembly works will continue. 
• Start of roadheader excavation south from Woolloongabba to the new Boggo Road underground station 
• Assembling conveyor equipment for excavated material (spoil), including use of cranes and metal working equipment (24/7 operation) 
• Establishing and mobilising a second tower crane 
• General earthworks and excavation activities, including offsite haulage of excavated material  
• Machinery and equipment deliveries including drill rigs, excavators and tunnelling plant 
• Installing formwork, fixing of reinforcement steel and placing concrete 
• Concrete deliveries, including out-of-hours deliveries to support large continuous concrete pours 
• CCTV inspections and pressure cleaning of water and sewer infrastructure 
• Utility works including installing power and other services for tunnelling and site operations 
• Geotechnical investigations in and around the site, using a truck-mounted drill rig to take samples of ground / soil conditions. 

Click here and au/37 for the tunnelbuilder archive. For further information on the project please visit https://crossriverrail.qld.gov.au  and https://statements.qld.gov.au/. 05/21.