Victoria

Metro Tunnel borers named

Four tunnel boring machines will be used to build the Metro Tunnel project beneath Melbourne’s CBD.

GROUND-BREAKING WOMEN HAVE BEEN recognised in the naming of the four new tunnel boring machines (TBMs) which will drill twin ninekilometre rail tunnels beneath Melbourne’s CBD. Four TBMs will be used to drill the Metro Tunnel, which will create a new crosscity connection between the Sunbury and Cranbourne-Pakenham lines, freeing up room on Metro Trains Melbourne’s City Loop and the wider network. Joan is the first TBM, named after Joan Kirner, who in 1990 became Victoria’s first female premier, and Australia’s third female head of government.

The second TBM, on its way to Australia, will be named Meg, after Australian cricket captain Meg Lanning, who recently led the team to victory at the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.

The third and fourth TBMs will be named after wartime military nurse Alice Appleford, and Victoria’s first female MP, Millie Peacock.

Appleford served as a nurse in Egypt and France in the World War I, and was awarded the military Medal for Gallantry. She served within the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service

in World War II, and in 1949 was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest honour of the Red Cross.

Peacock became Victoria’s first elected parliamentarian when she won the by-election in Allandale in 1933, replacing her husband Sir Alexander Peacock, after his death.

Each TBM is 120 metres long and weighs more than 1,100 tonnes. The Andrews Government says each is designed to bore through Melbourne’s unique ground conditions.

The four TBMs will be deployed in pairs: two at the new North Melbourne station pit, and two at the new Anzac station pit. The machines will bore away from the CBD, towards Kensington and South Yarra respectively, where they will then be recovered, dismantled, and brought back to their starting points, so they can then drill towards the CBD. “These four massive machines have been named after ground-breaking women who’ve made significant contributions to our state and our country,” premier Daniel Andrews said. “We’re getting on with building the public transport Victoria needs so more trains can run more often to and from the suburbs.”

20 ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS “ Ground- breaking women have been recognised in the naming of the four new tunnel boring machines ”

Replacement track to be built for trio of level crossing removals

MAJOR WORKS HAVE BEGUN TO REMOVE three level crossings in Melbourne’s southeast, around Carrum station on the Frankston Line. Work which got fully underway in February will facilitate the construction of 900 metres of elevated railway, and a rebuilt Carrum station, as part of the Victorian Government’s Level Crossing Removal Project.

Beneath the new elevated rail will be built a new connecting road, an extension of McLeod Road to the beachside of the railway.

Work to build the new elevated rail, station, and McLeod Road connection, will come after a new road bridge was opened over the Patterson River, connecting the communities of Carrum and Broadbeach in late 2018.

Together, the new connections will allow for the closure of three level crossings: one at Eel Race Road south of Carrum station, and two north of the station, at Station Street and Mascot Avenue.

The new section of elevated rail is expected to open in early 2020. In the meantime, a temporary rail track will be built alongside the existing track, so trains can continue to run – however Carrum station will be closed during construction, with buses connecting commuters to adjacent stations on the Frankston Line.

Once trains are operating on the temporary tracks, piling works will begin for piers to support the new elevated railway.

Crews are currently relocating underground services such as gas, water and power, and upgrading signalling.

“Carrum is going to have a busy year and I thank residents and local businesses for their patience during construction,” state transport minister Jacinta Allan said. “The removal of three dangerous and congested level crossings will make it safer and easier to get around this beautiful beachside suburb.” “ Carrum is going to have a busy year and I thank residents and local businesses for their patience during construction ”

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