On the 29.03.2016 MTR officially launched the TBM Athena which will bore the southern section of Shatin to Central Link  (SCL). This includes three of the four railway tunnels that will make up the Hong Kong Island Section of SCL. The SCL will massively extend MTR’s rail network, creating new east-west and north-south corridors.

The TBM’s was named, after the Greek goddess Athena,  and was selected from more than 30,000 entries by 7,000 students in a naming competition in 2014.

The TBM started from the launching shaft on the temporarily reclaimed land at the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter. It will first burrow beneath the busy city to excavate an up-track tunnel of over 600 m to connect the former Police Officers’ Club in Causeway Bay with the future Exhibition Station on the shore of Wan Chai North, while installing a concrete tunnel lining as she progresses. She will then bore both the up-and-down-track tunnels between Fenwick Pier Street and Admiralty Station. Click here and cn/63 for tunnelbuilder archive. For more information please visit http://www.mtr-shatincentrallink.hk/pdf/multimedia-gallery/press/31032016_pr_e.pdf  and  http://www.mtr.com.hk/.  16/16.