On 25/02/21 the TBM Elsie, 1,000-t, 122 m (400-feet) long, broke through to the future Wilshire/La Cienega station site in Beverly Hills. It is the first of two TBMs, manufactured in Germany by Herrenknecht AG, that will reach this last station on Section 1 of the Metro D Line (Purple) Extension project.  

Tunneling for the first 6.31 km (3.92-mile) section of the subway project is now two-thirds complete. More than 90% of the tunnels have been mined safely and Metro anticipates completing tunnel this summer. Excavation for all three subway station boxes beneath Wilshire Boulevard have now been completed.  

Metro’s TBMs were first lowered into the ground at Metro’s Wilshire/La Brea station site in the Miracle Mile area of Wilshire in October 2018. While advancing, the TBM tunneled about 60 feet per day and worked five days a week, 20 hours a day.  

Metro worked with the joint venture partners Skanska, Traylor and J.F. Shea (STS)  to design and build the first section of this project.   

The EUR8.54 Billion (USD9.3-billion) Metro Purple Line Extension is a 14.5 km (9 mile) underground subway project that will extend the Metro Purple Line from its terminus in Koreatown to Westwood/VA Hospital in West Los Angeles. Section 1 is expected to be completed in 2023, Section 2 in 2025 and Section 3 in 2027.  

Click here and us/41 for the tunnelbuilder archive.  For more information on the Purple Line Extension Project also visit www.metro.net/purplelineext   and https://thesource.metro.net.  10/21.