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Heavy Equipment
New milestone reached on B.C. subway project
October 31, 2023 By Rock to Road Staff
Tunnelling machine bores through the wall at OAK-VGH subway station in Vancouver. Photo provided by the Government of B.C. VANCOUVER — Last weekend saw another milestone achieved for British Columbia’s Broadway Subway Project.
A second tunnel-boring machine broke through the east wall at the site of the future Oak-VGH Station, Oct. 28. The boring machine, named Elsie, broke through following the first boring machine’s breakthrough Oct. 12. That machine has been named Phyllis.
Each of the large machines have carved out two kilometres of parallel tunnels and together have installed more than 2,600 concrete tunnel-liner rings since departing from Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station on the line.
The Oak-VGH Station is the fourth of six underground stations along the future Broadway subway corridor. The Broadway Subway Project is a 5.7 kilometre extension of the Millennium Line of Vancouver’s SkyTrain system.
From here Phyllis will launch towards South Granville Station, boring another tunnel to reach the fifth station on the line. Elise will be held over for scheduled maintenance and then will also continue towards South Granville.
Construction of the concrete walls, columns and floors is underway in various stages at all six stations, with crews working from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day, and some tunnelling taking place round the clock to meet project timelines.
Once completed, the new line will connect users to the Broadway corridor through six new underground stations and will also connect directly to the Canada Line.
To see more pictures of the tunnelling and construction work, click here.
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