Cross River Rail project reaches milestone as two major worksites connected

Boggo Road, brisbane, cross river rail, queensland, railway, station, tunnelling,

November 2, 2022

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Track alignment between Boggo Road station and Southern Tunnel Portal have now merged, joining the two worksites into a 700m construction zone for Cross River Rail.

Cross River Rail Delivery Authority Program Director Jeremy Kruger said crews had recently finished excavating the southern dive structure where trains will emerge from the new underground line, including two openings that connect it to the site of the new Boggo Road station being constructed just beyond.

“Although our massive Tunnel Boring Machines finished carving out our twin tunnels late last year, this last bit of excavation means the path from one end of Cross River Rail to the other is now complete,” says Cross River Rail Delivery Authority Program Director Jeremy Kruger. 

“In other words, you could technically now get from the southern portal here at Dutton Park, travel through the tunnels and keep going until you emerged at our northern tunnel portal across the city at Normanby.”

“So while the two tarp-covered holes connecting our southern portal worksite with the Boggo Road station construction site don’t look like much, they mark a significant milestone for the project and the workers shaping it.”

Mr Kruger added that while the southern tunnel portal and Boggo Road station worksites would still operate separately, the joined work zones spanned nearly 700 metres and were home to some of the project’s most impressive feats of engineering.

“Our task in the southern area is essentially threading a new rail line through an already congested and complex corridor, which has made it one of the most challenging and critical aspects of the entire project,” he said.

“Some of the most significant engineering marvels across the entire project have occurred in this area, including re-establishing the foundations for the rail line used by freight trains through a process called underpinning, which has allowed us to excavate beneath an active rail line,” says Cross River Rail Delivery Authority Program Director Jeremy Kruger. 

“We’ve also used micro tunnelling to relocate sewer and stormwater pipes in the area. We are about to start major construction on the new 480-metre-long pedestrian and cycle bridge that will traverse this section of track.”

Mr Kruger said about 240 people were working across both sites.

“Cross River Rail will transform how we travel to, from and through Brisbane in the future, and it’s great to see yet another milestone achieved as we move closer to completion.”

Some exciting stats from the Southern Area worksite:

• All up about 201,000 cubic metres of spoil has been excavated in this area
• Installing 509 piles ranging from 8 to 19 metre in depth to build the southern portal dive structure
• 989m of Microtunnelling to relocate sewer and stormwater pipes
• Installing 46 piles so far for the new 480-metre-long Boggo Road bridge

Source and Image: © Cross River Rail Delivery Authority 2021

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