City Rail Link tunnel machine debut

Caryn Wilkinson Reporter from Community News

The City Rail Link's tunnel boring machine has arrived in Auckland after a voyage of more than 9000 km from China.

Dubbed Dame Whina Cooper, the machine will excavate the rail tunnels for the city's largest ever transport infrastructure project.

It was shipped from its factory in southern China on board the BBC Orion and will be trucked to the City Rail Link site in Mt Eden for reassembly.

City Rail Link Ltd chief executive Dr Sean Sweeney said the machine's arrival signals an important transition for the project.

It marks a symbolic crossover from those enabling works to the complex and hefty job of finishing our tunnels and stations, he said.

"Construction is ramping up quickly."

People are invited to the see the machine close up at an open day planned for December.

More details will be announced next month.

The tunnel boring machine will be used to excavate two 1.6 km tunnels from Mt Eden to the CBD to link with the tunnels already dug from Britomart Station.

Work will start later this week on excavation of the first 51 metres of the tunnel at Mt Eden.

Excavation of the cavern and trench will make room for the machine to take over mining.

People will be able to keep track of Dame Whina Cooper's progress when tunneling begins.

An on-line link will measure the journey below Auckland in real time.

For information about the City Rail Link project go to
www.cityraillink.co.nz...