The last of the Metro Tunnel Project’s tunnel boring machines completed its work on the project in May 2021, breaking through at Town Hall Station in the Melbourne CBD.
After finishing tunnelling at Town Hall Station the 4 machines went through a process over several weeks to dismantle it into its components and bring them to the surface.
The back-up gantries, including mechanical and electrical components, were transferred back through the completed tunnels to Anzac and Arden stations, where they were dismantled and each component and piece of equipment assessed for reuse.
The cutterheads - too big to remove from the stations intact - were cut into pieces using an oxyacetylene torch, and the pieces sent as scrap steel to be recycled.
Metro Tunnel