The final parts of the TBM Bella, the largest in the southern hemisphere have been lifted into place to start digging the West Gate Tunnel in Melbourne. The 450-t cutterhead has been lowered 27 m into Footscray using a 500-t gantry crane,  bringing the project another step closer to start the tunnelling process. The cutterhead is made up of five separate pieces welded together and features 96 mounted cutters.

TBM Bella will take 18 months to dig the longer outbound tunnel connecting the city to the West Gate Freeway. The assembly of the second TBM Vida will soon commence so tunnelling can start later this year. Click here and au/35 for the tunnelbuilder archive and also visit http://westgatetunnelproject.vic.gov.au . 36/19.