April 2015
BEAR COTTAGE WELCOMES
SELF-REFERRALS
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
ARE
A
A
ARE
LEX
E
AT
EBR
CEL
RIV
ND
TO
ING
E
RIV
D
ION
D
JUNE
• Continuing tunnelling with both TBM1 and TBM2
• Constructing cross passages
• Removing spoil excavated from the tunnels to
re-use sites
• Receiving ongoing deliveries of materials for
concrete segment production
• Continuing to make concrete segments at the
precast facility
• Carrying out Celebration Drive road works
• Relocating tunnel support infrastructure from
Bella Vista to Showground
OA
MAY
• Continuing tunnelling with both
TBM1 and TBM2
• Constructing cross passages
• Removing spoil excavated from the tunnels
to re-use sites
• Receiving ongoing deliveries of materials for
concrete segment production
• Continuing to make concrete segments at
the precast facility
• Carrying out Celebration Drive road works
• Relocating tunnel support infrastructure from
Bella Vista to Showground
RK
WO
BP SERVICE STATION
RR
APRIL
• Continuing tunnelling with both
TBM1 and TBM2
• Constructing cross passages
• Removing spoil excavated from the tunnels to
re-use sites
• Receiving ongoing deliveries of materials for
concrete segment production
• Continuing to make concrete segments at the
precast facility
• Carrying out Celebration Drive road works
RK
DSO
THREE MONTH LOOK AHEAD
WO
WIN
Thiess John Holland Dragados is raising funds,
while delivering the NWRL project, to support
Bear Cottage’s important work. If you would
like to find out more about Bear Cottage please
visit www.bearcottage.chw.edu.au.
Bella Vista Norwest
MCDONALD’S
OLD
If your family has a child with a terminal condition,
Bear Cottage can provide respite and palliative
care in a home-like environment. Bear Cottage
at Manly is the only children’s hospice in NSW.
CELEBRATION DRIVE CHANGES
N
Work has started on Celebration Drive at Bella Vista to extend
the second lane for eastbound traffic from Old Windsor Road to
the roundabout at Lexington Drive. These road works will help
improve traffic flow around the roundabout (see map).
The work is expected to take up to 12 weeks to complete. It
includes localised widening, drainage works, constructing new
kerb and gutters and line marking. Most work will occur behind
barriers during the day, however some will need to be done out
of hours to minimise the impact on the local road network. Some
temporary lane closures will take place overnight, as needed,
to complete the widening works. Detour signs will be in place
to direct motorists and pedestrians.
Welcome to the Bella Vista and Norwest quarterly update on construction of the North West Rail Link
project. These newsletters are designed to keep you informed of project activities and community
involvement in your local area. The $8.3 billion North West Rail Link is Australia’s biggest public transport
project currently under construction and a priority infrastructure investment for the NSW Government.
Thiess John Holland Dragados has been contracted to build the tunnels and civil works for five of the eight
new stations and two services facilities.
Reduced speed and other roadwork signs will warn, inform and
guide road users and pedestrians around, through or past the
work areas. We appreciate your cooperation in observing road
signs and driving safely while we carry out these essential works.
A crowd watched the exciting break through of Elizabeth
To make a complaint or
to get more information
Call 1800 019 989
Email [email protected]
Visit the Community Information Centre,
Shop 490, Castle Towers Shopping Centre,
Castle Hill (entrance on Old Castle Hill Road)
www.northwestrail.com.au
Stay up to date with tunnelling activities
Register today for community email updates
at [email protected].
Like us on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/NorthWestRailLink.
Florence appears through the wall at Norwest
TBM BREAK THROUGHS AT NORWEST
It has been a busy start to the year with two tunnel boring
machines (TBMs) successfully breaking through into the Norwest
Station site. At each breakthrough, an excited crowd watched
the massive machines grind their way through the rock wall and
into the station area. Elizabeth, the first TBM, which launched
from Bella Vista in September 2014, arrived at Norwest in late
January. She spent four months underground and covered a
distance of 2.1 km. Florence, the second TBM, was launched in
October 2014 and arrived at Norwest in early March.
Both TBMs underwent maintenance while out in the open in
the excavated Norwest Station area, including replacement of
cutters on their cutter heads. This was done as the TBMs were
moved across the site on frames before they restarted tunnelling
and headed off towards the Showground site. Elizabeth has
completed over a third of her set route, about 3.7 km, and is
located east of Victoria Avenue at Castle Hill. Florence has made
her way through over 2.8 km of rock and is approaching the
Castle Hill trading zone.
Elizabeth and Florence will both have travelled 9 km once
they finish tunnelling between Bella Vista and Cherrybrook via
Norwest, Showground and Castle Hill. The project’s other two
TBMs, Isabelle and Maria, are also progressing well along their
6 km route between Cherrybrook and Epping. You can track the
progress of all four tunnel boring machines online on the North
West Rail Link (NWRL) website at www.northwestrail.com.au.
Printed on BJ Ball – Ecostar Gloss
NWRLTSC-TJV-031048-BLV-SH-NEW
1800 019 989 northwestrail.com.au
15_073_NWRL_Bella Vista Norwest News.indd 1
22/04/2015 11:09 am
Cudgegong
Road
Tunnelling Works
Rouse Hill
Kellyville
Bella Vista
Norwest
Showground
Castle Hill
Cheltenham Services Facility
Cherrybrook
Epping
Chatswood
Macquarie Park
North Ryde
Interchange with
existing network
HEADING IN THE
RIGHT DIRECTION
A RINGING SUCCESS
The precast facility at Bella Vista recently celebrated a key milestone when it
achieved production of 50,000 concrete segments. This is halfway to the target
of 100,000 segments needed to line the NWRL’s twin tunnels.
The precast facility is operating around the clock to make a segment every seven
minutes. As the project’s four TBMs excavate, they install the concrete segments
onto the walls. Six segments are needed to make up one ring, which together form
the permanent lining for the 15 km twin tunnels.
How do the tunnel boring machines know which direction to head
when underground? This is a question that gets asked often. The
answer is a sophisticated laser guidance system and software. The
guidance system is specially designed for TBMs which install ring
segments to line the tunnels as they excavate.
More than 74,000 m³ of concrete has been used so far to create the precast
segments. This is enough to fill more than 30 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Tracking is done via a continuous laser system which monitors
surface data and monitoring points which have been installed along
the tunnel alignment. Inside the tunnel there is a piece of equipment
called a theodolite which pinpoints where the TBM is at all times. It
does this using a laser beam which it sends through three different
prisms located at the head of the machine.
The precast facility has made over 50,000 segments
Macquarie
University
This is translated into a system of coordinates and levels to track
the TBM’s progress. The information is also used to select the best
ring position or angle to suit the direction in which the cutter head
is heading. A computer in the TBM’s control room displays all of
this information which the operator then uses to steer the machine
in the right direction.
A theodolite uses a laser beam to help pinpoint the TBM’s location
Loading segments onto trucks at the precast facility
CONNECTING THE TUNNELS
which also have ramps, provide easier access to the cross passage
area. They are also used to store materials, stockpile excavated
rock, park machinery and prepare equipment. They also allow
tunnel vehicles to pass on their way to and from the TBMs.
Work platform creates a flat surface in the round tunnel
A tunnel vehicle tows the platforms and ramps into position and
they are temporarily fixed to the tunnel wall. Once installed, workers
break through the concrete segments lining the walls. They use
remote control rock hammers, which can be safely used to excavate
the cross passages. Rock bolts are inserted into the passage walls
to stabilise them. Concrete is then sprayed onto the walls before
they are waterproofed and a final concrete layer installed.
Construction of cross passages between the two main North West
Rail Link tunnels is underway beneath Bella Vista. There will be
55 connecting passages located every 240 m along the tunnel
alignment. They are generally 5 m wide, 4.5 m high and 5 m long.
15_073_NWRL_Bella Vista Norwest News.indd 2
A cross passage between the two tunnels
A theodolite is used to help navigate
the TBMs underground
KEEPING UP WITH THE TBMs
As the two tunnel boring machines, Elizabeth and Florence, move
further along the NWRL alignment, their supporting infrastructure
will need to follow them. Over the coming months, this infrastructure
will be moved from the original launch site at Bella Vista to the
Showground Station site. This is about halfway to their final tunnelling
destination at Cherrybrook.
The infrastructure, which will be re-erected at Showground, is
essential for the TBMs to operate. It includes two spoil conveyors
(one for each tunnel), two grout plants (consisting of four silos)
and kilometres of pipe to supply power, water and grout to each
of the TBMs.
Cross passages are created as soon as possible after the second
tunnel comes in line with the first tunnel. It is important for safety
reasons to open up these passages so people can access the other
tunnel if there is an emergency.
The first stage when building a cross passage is to install a work
platform in the round tunnel to create a flat surface. The platforms,
Operator looking at the data on the computers in the control room
Some oversized equipment will need to be transported out of hours
due to Roads and Maritime Services restrictions on the movement
of oversized vehicles. This will minimise the impact on local traffic.
Spoil conveyors will be relocated from Bella Vista to Showground
The relocation will also involve tunnelling personnel and the workforce
relocating to the Showground site.
22/04/2015 11:09 am
April 2015
BEAR COTTAGE WELCOMES
SELF-REFERRALS
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
ARE
A
A
ARE
LEX
E
AT
EBR
CEL
RIV
ND
TO
ING
E
RIV
D
ION
D
JUNE
• Continuing tunnelling with both TBM1 and TBM2
• Constructing cross passages
• Removing spoil excavated from the tunnels to
re-use sites
• Receiving ongoing deliveries of materials for
concrete segment production
• Continuing to make concrete segments at the
precast facility
• Carrying out Celebration Drive road works
• Relocating tunnel support infrastructure from
Bella Vista to Showground
OA
MAY
• Continuing tunnelling with both
TBM1 and TBM2
• Constructing cross passages
• Removing spoil excavated from the tunnels
to re-use sites
• Receiving ongoing deliveries of materials for
concrete segment production
• Continuing to make concrete segments at
the precast facility
• Carrying out Celebration Drive road works
• Relocating tunnel support infrastructure from
Bella Vista to Showground
RK
WO
BP SERVICE STATION
RR
APRIL
• Continuing tunnelling with both
TBM1 and TBM2
• Constructing cross passages
• Removing spoil excavated from the tunnels to
re-use sites
• Receiving ongoing deliveries of materials for
concrete segment production
• Continuing to make concrete segments at the
precast facility
• Carrying out Celebration Drive road works
RK
DSO
THREE MONTH LOOK AHEAD
WO
WIN
Thiess John Holland Dragados is raising funds,
while delivering the NWRL project, to support
Bear Cottage’s important work. If you would
like to find out more about Bear Cottage please
visit www.bearcottage.chw.edu.au.
Bella Vista Norwest
MCDONALD’S
OLD
If your family has a child with a terminal condition,
Bear Cottage can provide respite and palliative
care in a home-like environment. Bear Cottage
at Manly is the only children’s hospice in NSW.
CELEBRATION DRIVE CHANGES
N
Work has started on Celebration Drive at Bella Vista to extend
the second lane for eastbound traffic from Old Windsor Road to
the roundabout at Lexington Drive. These road works will help
improve traffic flow around the roundabout (see map).
The work is expected to take up to 12 weeks to complete. It
includes localised widening, drainage works, constructing new
kerb and gutters and line marking. Most work will occur behind
barriers during the day, however some will need to be done out
of hours to minimise the impact on the local road network. Some
temporary lane closures will take place overnight, as needed,
to complete the widening works. Detour signs will be in place
to direct motorists and pedestrians.
Welcome to the Bella Vista and Norwest quarterly update on construction of the North West Rail Link
project. These newsletters are designed to keep you informed of project activities and community
involvement in your local area. The $8.3 billion North West Rail Link is Australia’s biggest public transport
project currently under construction and a priority infrastructure investment for the NSW Government.
Thiess John Holland Dragados has been contracted to build the tunnels and civil works for five of the eight
new stations and two services facilities.
Reduced speed and other roadwork signs will warn, inform and
guide road users and pedestrians around, through or past the
work areas. We appreciate your cooperation in observing road
signs and driving safely while we carry out these essential works.
A crowd watched the exciting break through of Elizabeth
To make a complaint or
to get more information
Call 1800 019 989
Email [email protected]
Visit the Community Information Centre,
Shop 490, Castle Towers Shopping Centre,
Castle Hill (entrance on Old Castle Hill Road)
www.northwestrail.com.au
Stay up to date with tunnelling activities
Register today for community email updates
at [email protected].
Like us on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/NorthWestRailLink.
Florence appears through the wall at Norwest
TBM BREAK THROUGHS AT NORWEST
It has been a busy start to the year with two tunnel boring
machines (TBMs) successfully breaking through into the Norwest
Station site. At each breakthrough, an excited crowd watched
the massive machines grind their way through the rock wall and
into the station area. Elizabeth, the first TBM, which launched
from Bella Vista in September 2014, arrived at Norwest in late
January. She spent four months underground and covered a
distance of 2.1 km. Florence, the second TBM, was launched in
October 2014 and arrived at Norwest in early March.
Both TBMs underwent maintenance while out in the open in
the excavated Norwest Station area, including replacement of
cutters on their cutter heads. This was done as the TBMs were
moved across the site on frames before they restarted tunnelling
and headed off towards the Showground site. Elizabeth has
completed over a third of her set route, about 3.7 km, and is
located east of Victoria Avenue at Castle Hill. Florence has made
her way through over 2.8 km of rock and is approaching the
Castle Hill trading zone.
Elizabeth and Florence will both have travelled 9 km once
they finish tunnelling between Bella Vista and Cherrybrook via
Norwest, Showground and Castle Hill. The project’s other two
TBMs, Isabelle and Maria, are also progressing well along their
6 km route between Cherrybrook and Epping. You can track the
progress of all four tunnel boring machines online on the North
West Rail Link (NWRL) website at www.northwestrail.com.au.
Printed on BJ Ball – Ecostar Gloss
NWRLTSC-TJV-031048-BLV-SH-NEW
1800 019 989 northwestrail.com.au
15_073_NWRL_Bella Vista Norwest News.indd 1
22/04/2015 11:09 am