Tunnel boring machines resurfacing for Eglinton Crosstown LRT

After nearly four years of digging, the tunnel boring machines (TBMs) for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT are being taken apartand removed from the ground.

One of the machines, nicknamed "Don", bored 3.3 km underground, helping to complete the LRT'snorth tunnel.

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The 400-tonne machine was disassembled and parts of it were hoisted out Monday morning near Yonge and Eglinton.

The second TBM, named "Humber", will also be extracted over the next four days.

Each TBM is 10 metres high and 6.5 metres across. "Don's"cutter head was the first part to surface.

The project's head engineer, John Brown, spoke before the extraction this morning, tracking the cutter head's movement.

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"It's going to get lifted up the extraction shaft...spun around with a big crane behind us....pivoted around and laid down on the far side of the site," he said.

The TBM's operated16-20 metres below ground, around the clock,with a crew of sixoperators each.

In total, fourTBM's bored the tunnels. TBM "Don"and "Humber"bored the tunnels from BrentcliffeRoad to YongeStreet.

TBMs"Dennis"and "Lea"bored the tunnels from Black Creek Drive to Yonge Street.

Metrolinxsays there's still a lot of work to dobefore riders can hit the rails in 2021.

"We can now hand over the final tunnel to the next contractor who will fit it out with the rails so it's a milestone for us," saidBrown.