On the 12.11.2018 the second of five mega TBMs started tunnelling underneath Sydney. The TBM, named ‘Mum Shirl’, has been launched at the Marrickville site to help bore 31km of tunnels between Marrickville and Chatswood as part of the Sydney Metro, extending Australia's biggest public transport project.
The TBM has been named after Mum Shirl who was an Aboriginal woman who dedicated her life to her community. She raised 60 foster children and was a Wiradjuri woman, Mum Shirl was born Colleen Shirley Perry around 1924 and she died in 1998. She was involved in establishing the Aboriginal Legal Service (1971), the Aboriginal Medical Service (1972), the Aboriginal Black Theatre, the Aboriginal Children's service, the Aboriginal Housing Company and the Detoxification Centre. She was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1977 and received the Order of Australia in 1985.
The TBM, Mum Shirl is now working alongside the TBM Nancy, which was launched on the 17.10.18. The name Nancy was to honour a transport pioneer called Nancy Bird Walton OBE. The two TBMs are building 8.1 km of twin metro tunnels from Marrickville to the new Sydney Metro station sites at Waterloo, Central, Pitt Street, Martin Place and on to Barangaroo, where they will be removed. The TBMs are about 150 m long and specially designed for Sydney’s geology in particular to cut through hard sandstone and shale.
This is the first time in Australian history that five TBMs have worked on a transport infrastructure project. Two more TBMs will dig 6.2 km from Chatswood to the edge of Sydney Harbour. A fifth machine has been specially designed to deliver the twin tunnels under Sydney Harbour.
For further information please use the links below and also visit https://www.sydneymetro.info.
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