Jeffie's work is done at Mt Eden
VIDEO: Tunnel boring machine Jeffie finishes Auckland City Rail Link job
Our “mini” tunnel boring machine Jeffie has completed her underground journey below Mt Eden. Jeffie was used to build a new, 423-metre-long stormwater main 17 metres below city streets. The existing main between Water and Nikau Sts was in the path of the future CRL tunnels and had to be diverted.
Jeffie has been a little legend and an integral part of the CRL project. She began work in January with two jobs to do: excavating spoil, and at the same time, installing concrete segments for the new drain.
In her time with the project she removed more than 2,000 cubic metres of spoil, installed 208 concrete segments and made a sweeping curve underground to avoid a field of hard volcanic basalt rock in her way. During the four months Jeffie was onsite, it took her seven weeks to complete tunnelling works. During the journey, Jeffie also encountered the remains of a tree thought to have been destroyed in a volcanic eruption some 20,000 years ago.
A video of Jeffie emerging from her underground journey is here. Both Jeffie and our small statuette of St Barbara – the patron saint of all who work underground - are getting ready to be transferred to Ecuador in South America for a new job – and in Jeffie’s case, a new name.
Now that Jeffie has finished her job, the connections into the existing stormwater network will be undertaken so that the new stormwater pipeline can be used. The connection works at both ends of the new tunnel will take a further couple of months to complete.
Click here to see the video of Jeffie completing her journey.
