TBM Ruby and TBM Jessie complete final breakthroughs on Sydney’s ETP project

A major milestone has been reached on the Sydney Metro West Eastern Tunnelling Package, with TBM Ruby and TBM Jessie completing the final breakthroughs into the Hunter Street Station cavern and finishing the twin metro tunnels between Westmead and the Sydney CBD.

Ruby was the first to arrive, breaking through in December 2025 after a 2.3 kilometre drive from The Bays. Jessie has now followed, marking the final TBM breakthrough on the project and the completion of the mainline twin tunnels along the alignment.

From The Bays, both machines tunnelled 2.3 kilometres beneath Johnstons Bay and Darling Harbour, working through complex ground conditions and under some of Sydney’s busiest areas. Each TBM excavated around 230,000 tonnes of material and installed 8,256 precast concrete segments to form the permanent tunnel lining. Delivering this safely beneath the harbour and the CBD has required careful planning, technical expertise and strong collaboration across all teams.

Both breakthroughs took place inside the Hunter Street Station cavern. The cavern measures 180 metres long, 28 metres wide and 20 metres high, and was excavated over 20 months in the heart of the CBD. Work is also continuing on 1.2 kilometres of turnback tunnels, which will allow future metro services to turn around and head back towards Westmead once operations begin.

The completion of the twin tunnels brings Sydney Metro West another step closer to transforming how people travel between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD.