Metrolinx bids a grateful adieu to Crosstown tunnel boring machines
TORONTO: March 10, 2017 – On Monday, March 13, 2017, Metrolinx will begin the process of extracting the tunnel boring machines (TBM)—reaching a significant milestone in the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit project. After more than three years of tunnelling, the TBMs will begin their gradual ascension from the extraction shaft.
Although the majority of the activity will take place during the night (to limit impact on traffic), the public may see some of the extraction happening on Eglinton Avenue East at Holly Street (east of Yonge Street) during the day.
Date: Monday, March 13, 2017
Time: 0900hrs* – 1200noon (*start time is tentative – dependant on weather and other factors)
Location: Eglinton Avenue E. at Holly St. (east of Yonge Street).
TBM ‘Don’, the machine that bored the north tunnel, will be removed first over a period of days. The cutting head will be the first section to resurface and be hauled away, followed by the forward shield, the trailing shield and finally the stationary shield. TBM ‘Humber’ will be removed in a similar fashion over a week in April.
Both Don and Humber are 10 metres long, 6.5 metres in diameter and weigh approximately 400 tonnes. Each of the machines’ segments will be carefully lifted from the extraction shaft, swung around 180 degrees and placed on the ground within the construction zone, and later, during the night, will be loaded onto a truck and hauled away.
In August 2016, Don and Humber completed their journeys, having travelled 3.3 kilometres from where they started at the Brentcliffe Road launch shaft in September 2015. Each machine installed 26,178 precast tunnel liners that formed 2,182 rings. Six concrete segments make up one ring. After their months of hard work and loyal service, Don and Humber will be taken to a storage site. The machines used for the west tunnels, TBM Dennis and TBM Lea, will be removed at a later date in coordination with station construction.
One of the largest transit construction projects in the country, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT represents a $5.3 billion (2010$) transit improvement investment by the Government of Ontario, which is creating tens of thousands of design and construction jobs. When in service in 2021, the Crosstown will bring new fast, reliable and comfortable transit to Toronto residents, integrated with existing TTC and GO Transit services. Construction on the Crosstown began in 2011 with the west launch area at Black Creek Drive and Eglinton Avenue.