Exciting news from a boring story.
This is a real breakthrough.
Literally.
Elsie (named after a notable Vancouver-born female engineer) broke through the wall at the future site of Main Street Station around 8:00 PM on January 23rd, marking the completion of the first tunnel section of the Broadway subway project.
Another video shows the time-lapse version if you’re in a hurry.
This marks the first tunneling milestone for the machines. The Mount Pleasant station site is the first underground section of the new transit project, with the most winding approach. Elsie will go on to Broadway-City Hall, then Oak-Vancouver General Hospital, then South Granville before ending up at Arbutus. All of these stations are in a straight line along Broadway.
A second tunnel boring machine, named Phyllis (named after a famous mountaineer and naturalist), is boring a second tunnel to Elsie, but is months away from completing the first section.
For an inside look at the tunneling machines, check out this video.
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