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Tunnel heavy going

By Kath Gannaway

30th June 2009 02:00:31 AM

A major breakthrough … The $8 million tunnel boring machine completes the final section of the tunnel. 32770

THE completion of the 830-metre tunnel beneath the Toolangi State Forest has been hailed as a major milestone by the Sugarloaf Pipeline Alliance.

The tunnel boring machine (TBM) – nicknamed ‘Ollie’ – bored its way through rock which was eight to 10 times stronger than structural concrete.

The remotely controlled TBM was manufactured especially for the rock encountered in the Toolangi State Forest.

Alliance Project Manager Rob Cranston congratulated tunnel project manager Sam Jones and his team on coming in ahead of schedule.

A crew of 10 people worked 24 hours a day, six days a week for 10 weeks, finishing the job on Friday, 19 June.

Some of the rock displaced in the making of the tunnel has been used on the pipeline project with the majority disposed of at the old Castella Quarry.