The completed underground caverns for Sydney’s new metro railway station at Martin Place have been revealed for the first time.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Transport Andrew Constance today inspected the new Martin Place metro station, where the caverns have been completed about six months ahead of schedule.
“In a few short years, Sydney’s new driverless trains will be running through the heart of the city every few minutes – a fast, new, reliable and safe railway extending from the Metro North West Line,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“This is an extraordinary milestone: excavation, tunnelling and caverns completed – next stop is laying tracks and building the new station which will service the heart of the Sydney CBD,” Mr Constance said.
It took nearly two years to excavate and build the mammoth caverns that will house the metro platforms.
The caverns under Castlereagh and Elizabeth Street are each 28 metres below street level at Martin Place, are 220 metres long and 14 metres wide.
Excavation was completed ahead of the arrival of the first tunnel boring machine, TBM Nancy on 11 October 2019. TBM Mum Shirl was not far behind, breaking through into the cavern on 23 October 2019.
About 126,000 tonnes of rock was excavated from the two caverns and more than 5,500 tonnes of steel installed.
The smooth finished lining of the caverns required more than 21,500 tonnes of concrete.
Nine tunnels have also been built to connect commuters to the new station entrances as well as to the end of the platforms at the existing Martin Place Station.