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Busway breakthrough in Brisbane

An important milestone has been reached at the Airport Link and Northern Busway (Windsor to Kedron) projects in Brisbane, Australia, with an Aker Wirth roadheader T3.20 breaking through in the 490m long Busway Tunnel at Lutwyche. The TransLink Northern Busway connects communities in Brisbane's northern suburbs to Brisbane City, major shopping centres and workplaces, and when complete it will be a vital link in the expanding busway network and will reduce travel times for people travelling to and from the su
February 8, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Breakthrough at the Busway Tunnel in Brisbane
An important milestone has been reached at the Airport Link and Northern Busway (Windsor to Kedron) projects in Brisbane, Australia, with an 2434 Aker Wirth roadheader T3.20 breaking through in the 490m long Busway Tunnel at Lutwyche.

The TransLink Northern Busway connects communities in Brisbane's northern suburbs to Brisbane City, major shopping centres and workplaces, and when complete it will be a vital link in the expanding busway network and will reduce travel times for people travelling to and from the suburbs of Windsor, Lutwyche, Kedron, Chermside, Aspley and Bracken Ridge.

The Windsor to Kedron section, with stations at Lutwyche and Kedron, is scheduled for completion in 2012.

Four heavy-duty Aker Wirth T3.20 roadheaders, originally manufactured in Germany, are again excavating in the Brisbane area after successful completion of the Clem Jones Tunnel, which carries traffic under the Brisbane River, bypassing the city's central business district.

All four machines are equipped with 300kW powered inline cutterheads and have an operating weight of more than 130tonnes.

The roadheaders are operating in different sections of the Airport Link Tunnel project.

The 6.7km Airport Link toll road is a tunnelled motorway grade road which is under construction in the city's northern suburbs, and it will connect the Clem Jones Tunnel to the East-West Arterial Road, which leads to the Brisbane Airport. It is being built in conjunction with the Windsor to Kedron section of the Northern Busway in approximately the same corridor.

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