Cross River Rail: TBM Else & Merle achieve breakthrough at Roma Street

Double Shield TBM Else, after the trailblazing engineer Else Shepherd, has achieved breakthrough on the 6th of August 2021 in Brisbane, Australia.

From Woolloongabba, the TBM has excavated under the river achieving breakthrough at Albert Street station at a depth of 31 meters in mid-2021 later continuing to Roma Street.  TBM Else excavated 105,000 cubic meters of spoil on her 2.5km underground journey from Woolloongabba (enough to fill 42 Olympic swimming pools) and installed more than 1500 precast concrete rings.

Double Shield TBM Merle, in honor of pioneering feminist Merle Thornton, has achieved breakthrough on the 23th of August 2021. Cross River Rail is proud to welcome our second TBM to Roma Street following her breakthrough into Roma Street Cavern.

The twin TBMs will now traverse the Roma Street cavern before taking off to Northern Portal in the coming weeks.