TBM Coming Home

A couple days shy of Christmas, the project celebrated its biggest milestone yet – the TBM breakthrough into Aotea Station, marking the completion of the first of two bored tunnels. After a short break over the holiday period, the TBM team returned to work and immediately started preparations for its relaunch at the Mt Eden site this April.

The six-piece TBM shield is in the process of being dismantled, lifted, and transported back to the Mt Eden site at night. It's at Mt Eden that the machine will undergo maintenance, be reassembled and readied to begin its second 1.6 kilometre journey to Aotea Station again.

The first piece of the TBM puzzle to be dismantled and lifted from Aotea Station was the 78 tonne cutterhead. The cutterhead was transported across Auckland’s city centre overnight – working around peak traffic hours to protect people’s safety and limit disruption to commuters.

Up next was the heavy weight - the front shield - weighing in at 145 tonnes it was detached and lifted using two 450 tonne cranes. Known as a tandem lift, this was no easy feat and required faultless communication between the two crane operators and multiple spotters.

The dismantling of the TBM will continue until late February. It's a huge effort from our dedicated team onsite and we're proud of the results so far. We'll continue to share these great images with you as the dismantling continues.

Follow the TBM's journey at digCRL.co.nz. This website is updated weekly.