Sandvik wins tunneling machine deal in Australia

Sandvik is supplying a major order of tunnelling machinery for use on a construction project in Australia. This deal is for a major tunnelling project in Sydney. The NSW Government, Transurban and the M7 Westlink Shareholders (the Project Sponsors) are in process to build, operate and maintain a tolled motorway linking the M1 Pacific Motorway at Wahroonga to the Hills M2 Motorway at West Pennant Hills. The new route will be called NorthConnex.
July 6, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Sandvik will supply 13 of the 19 roadheaders being used for the North Connex tunnel project in Australia
RSS325 Sandvik is supplying a major order of tunnelling machinery for use on a construction project in Australia. This deal is for a major tunnelling project in Sydney. The NSW Government, 891 Transurban and the M7 Westlink Shareholders (the Project Sponsors) are in process to build, operate and maintain a tolled motorway linking the M1 Pacific Motorway at Wahroonga to the 6662 Hills M2 Motorway at West Pennant Hills. The new route will be called NorthConnex.

The machine supply deal was made by Lend Lease - 979 Bouygues Joint Venture to Sandvik Mining and Construction Australia. Of the 19 roadheaders required for the project, 13 will be supplied by Sandvik. The order includes six of the large MT720 units, one MT620 model and six of the MT520 units. This represents the largest single order for Sandvik tunneling roadheaders since the order received for the Sochi Olympic Park excavation over five years ago.

The project is of strategic importance for New South Wales and will help cut journey times and traffic congestion in and around Sydney. This new route will link Sydney's north to the Orbital network, and form part of the National Highway route when complete.

The project includes driving twin motorway tunnels, each measuring 9km long. The tunnels will have two lanes and a breakdown lane in each direction, as well as a height clearance of 5.3m with a speed limit of 80 km/h. The project will cost in the region of US$3 billion in all and will be Australia’s longest road tunnel when the link opens to traffic.

The Lend Lease - Bouygues Joint Venture (LLB JV) was formed originally to construct the East West Link project in Melbourne and NorthConnex. The group was the successful bidder on both projects, but following the cancellation of the East West Link project the focus switched to NorthConnex. Lend Lease is globally operating Australian construction company and Bouygues is one of the largest construction companies in the world, with its headquarters located in France. The Joint Venture is a 50-50 partnership.

Mechanical cutting with roadheaders was selected as the most suitable excavation method for North Connex. This was due to the large number of different tunnel profiles (intersections, ramps, shafts) in the project scope, and the accurate excavation profile required.

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