They may be boring machines, but they had an exciting journey.
Well, half of them at least.
Like an Ikea order gone wrong, the first batch of parts has arrived in Vancouver for the gigantic pieces of machinery that'll be creating a tunnel beneath Broadway.
"The tunnel-boring machine components left Germany on Feb. 25, 2022, and sailed through the Panama Canal before arriving at Fraser Surrey Docks on April 15, 2022," says the province in a press release.
A second batch will be going on their own multi-week Atlantic/Caribbean/Pacific coast cruise shortly.
Once they arrive here they'll be assembled into the big cylinders and bore 15 m to 20 m under the city to create new tunnels for the Broadway Subway project.
"The two six-metre-wide machines, to be named later this spring, will be launched separately from the Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station and will bore new tunnels to Cypress Street near the line’s terminus at Arbutus Station," says the province. "The tunnels will connect all six new stations along the new line."
The machines will be run by crews of eight to 12 and create 18 meters of new tunnel each day, moving 200,000 cubic meters of soil.
An official ceremony will mark the beginning of the two machines' year-long journey under the earth. The $2.83 billion project will add 5.7 km of rail to the Millennium line with six new stations
