Sydney Metro: ‘Nancy’ tunnels through to Waterloo
Work on Sydney’s new underground metro rail system has hit a new milestone, with ‘Nancy’ the boring machine breaking through at the future Waterloo station.
Central Sydney
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Work on Sydney’s new underground metro line has reached a new milestone, after the tunnelling machine dubbed ‘Nancy’ broke through at the future Waterloo station.
It has dug its way 3.1km under inner west suburbs from Marrickville in just six months, and will soon continue on to Barangaroo via new metro stations at Central, Pitt St and Martin Place.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Transport Minister Andrew Constance on Friday morning welcomed ‘Nancy’ as it broke through to Waterloo’s under-construction station on Botany Rd.
“This is history in the making as we get on with the job of delivering turn-up-and-go Metro services up to every two minutes from Chatswood, under the Harbour and CBD and onto Bankstown,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Mr Constance said when complete in 2024, the metro system running 66km from Rouse Hill to Bankstown would have 31 stations with the capacity to move about 40,000 customers per hour.
The first leg of the network is set to come online next month, when Australia’s first driverless trains start running from Tallawong station to Chatswood. Construction began in late 2013.
There are five tunnel boring machines digging out the 15.5km twin railway tunnels that will make up Sydney Metro’s run between Chatswood and Marrickville.
The future south west arm of the metro project would run from Marrickville to Bankstown.