TBM Events
Boring Day Out
Thanks to everyone who came to our Boring Day out event at the Mt Eden construction site.
We were pleased to be able to give 5000 Aucklanders a close-up view of our Tunnel Boring Machine.
Blessing of the TBM
Our Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) was blessed by Dame Whina Cooper’s daughter, Hinerangi Puru Cooper, and her wider whanau at the Mt Eden construction site on 4 December 2020.
They were joined by Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson, Transport Minister Michael Wood, the city’s Mayor Phil Goff, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and other Auckland Iwi who sit on CRL’s Mana Whenua Forum, and community, transport and CRL representatives.
The TBM was named by public vote after the famous Māori rights champion.
CRL CEO Dr Sean Sweeney said: “Dame Whina’s legacy is one of determination and the importance of working together, values that fittingly apply to this project and our journey ahead to build a world class railway for Auckland.
Hinerangi said she was honoured and humbled to be present at the unveiling of the TBM today.
Sod-turning ceremony at Mt Eden
DigCRL: CRL Ltd CE Dr Sean Sweeney, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff and Minister of Transport Phil Twyford
13 February 2020
Spades in the ground at the sod-turning ceremony cleared the way for work to start on driving 66 concrete piles between 38 metres and eight metres long into the ground to support the curved-shaped retaining wall 127 metres long and 25 metres high.
The portal will take 10 months to build. When completed, it will be the launching pad for the TBM and the two separate journeys it will make under Auckland from Mt Eden to the Aotea station in the central city.
A German company, Herrenknecht, will build the $13.5 million TBM. The machine will be built at the company’s factory in China and shipped to New Zealand in sections next spring where it will be reassembled in front of the portal. The TBM will start tunnelling in February 2021.
Transport Minister Phil Twyford says tunnelling from Mt Eden into central Auckland is a big and exciting next step for the CRL project.
“Not only will CRL boost Auckland’s transport system, it will stimulate urban regeneration with jobs and affordable housing around Mt Eden station and elsewhere along the city’s rail corridors - a completed CRL will double the number of the number of people within 30 minutes of central Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest employment hub,” Mr Twyford says.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says the CRL is New Zealand’s largest ever transport infrastructure project… a gamechanger for Auckland, allowing 54,000 people an hour to travel into the city at peak times. It adds capacity equivalent to three Harbour Bridges or 16 extra traffic lanes into the city at peak.
“The TBM will be the star of the show, providing the mechanical muscle required to get the job done as quickly as possible.”