In the early evening of the 14/09/2022 the TBM Dame Whina Cooper (weight 910 t, length 130m and diameter 7.15m) reached the Te Waihorotiu Station (Aotea) completing the second tunnel of the Auckland's metro, the first underground Metro in New Zealand: click here for the video.  

The TBM completed the first tube just before Christmas 2021 and was then dismantled, returned to Maungawhau / Mount Eden Station and reassembled to excavate the second tube. 

It took a little over 12 months to drive the twin tunnels from Maungawhau/Mt Eden Station to Te Waihorotiu Station, formerly Aotea,in Auckland. The TBM placed 1067 segment rings and removed 130,000 t of spoil during the boring of the twin tunnels 

Now the tunnels are built the TBM will be dismantled, lifted above ground, transported to the port for shipping back to its manufacturer, Herrenknecht. Parts of it will be repurposed. Now Link Alliance - the consortia of companies building the CRL – will start putting in the tunnels, all the tracks and railway systems needed to convert them to rail use. Click here and nz/15 for the tunnelbuilder archive updates on the project and also visit https://www.cityraillink.co.nz/. 37/22.