First look inside the new tunnels for the Broadway Subway (VIDEO)

First look inside the new tunnels being built for the Broadway Subway (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Broadway Subway tunnel boring progress, May 2023. (Government of BC)

Good progress is being made on the tunnelling project for the Broadway Subway through Vancouver, and we now have a first glimpse of a portion of the completed tunnel interior to date.

New footage released last week, captured about a month ago by the provincial government’s Transportation Investment Corporation, shows crews walking through a completed section of bored tunnel for SkyTrain Millennium Line’s Broadway Extension.

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The tunnel boring machines named Phyllis and Elsie are responsible for building twin five-km-long tunnels between the future sites of Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station and Arbutus Station.

Named after two influential, decorated British Columbians who were leaders in engineering and mountaineering, Elsie, the first machine, is boring the eastbound tunnel, while Phyllis, the second machine, is boring the westbound tunnel.

New footage from the BC government providing a first look *inside* the Broadway Subway's completed segment of bored tunnel to date.

Just 2.5 more years until #SkyTrain starts speeding through these tunnels regularly. 🚇 #vanpoli https://t.co/BYCTYzCto6 pic.twitter.com/JDwhSZ3YOk

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) June 27, 2023

As they excavate soil and rock at a pace of up to 18 metres per day, they extend the system of tunnel liner rings that are made out of prefabricated concrete segments. The soil and rock is transported by a conveyance system to the tunnel boring staging area at the pit of Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station.

So far, railway infrastructure has yet to be installed, as that will take place only after tunnel boring reaches completion, which is anticipated before the end of 2023. Construction on the six new subway stations will also kick into a new pace after tunnel boring is finished.

Both machines will be removed from Cypress Street at the eastern end of the two-block-long Arbutus Station pit, with the western block being the footprint of the station and the eastern block being the footprint of a major cross-over track switch. Each machine is six metres wide and 150 metres long — nearly twice the length of a station platform on the Expo and Millennium lines, which are about 80 metres.

The tunnel’s deepest depth is in the area of Broadway-City Hall Station, where it has bored 20 metres below ground level to enable it to dive below the comparatively shallow Canada Line tunnel under Cambie Street.

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Broadway Subway tunnel boring progress, May 2023. (Government of BC)

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Broadway Subway tunnel boring progress, May 2023. (Government of BC)

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Broadway Subway tunnel boring progress, May 2023. (Government of BC)

A tunnel boring machine for the Broadway Subway. (Government of BC)

Including Arbutus Station, the machines still have three more station breakthroughs to accomplish, with the next being arriving at VGH-Oak Station at Laurel Street. Elsie is expected to make this breakthrough soon.

Construction on the Millennium Line Broadway Extension to Arbutus first began in Spring 2021, and tunnel boring began in October 2022 after a delay due to a strike of Lower Mainland concrete plant workers last summer.

If all goes as planned, the 5.7-km-long extension of the regional SkyTrain network will open in early 2026. This includes a short 700-metre-long segment of elevated guideway between the existing VCC-Clark Station and the tunnel portal leading into Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station. According to the project office, the concrete columns and and steel girders of the elevated guideway structure have been built, and crews are now working on installing the deck panels.

Oak-VGH Station construction progress, June 2023. (Government of BC)

Arbutus Station excavation progress, May 2023. (Government of BC)

broadway subway elevated guideway may 2023

Elevated guideway construction progress for Broadway Subway, June 2023. (Government of BC)

From Arbutus Station, the $2.83-billion, 5.7-km-long Millennium Line Broadway Extension will enable travel times of only 11 minutes to VCC-Clark Station, 12 minutes to Commercial-Broadway Station, 32 minutes to Lougheed Town Centre Station, and 47 minutes to Lafarge-Lake Douglas Station in Coquitlam.

For the remaining journey to the University of British Columbia campus, passengers will board a truncated 99 B-Line service starting from the bus exchange at Arbutus Station, until the Millennium Line is further extended westward to reach the campus.

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