New Sydney Olympic Park Metro Station precinct unveiled, delivering hundreds of new homes

Tunnel boring machines (TBMs) Beatrice and Daphne completed a historic double breakthrough at their final destination at Sydney Olympic Park on the new Sydney Metro West line on Monday, October 1, 2024. In what is Sydney Metro West's biggest year of tunnelling to date, the two mega TBMs completed their 11-kilometre journey from The Bays to Sydney Olympic Park within minutes of each other. The TBMs, each weighing 1300 tonnes, tunnelled an average 200 metres a week to build the 11-kilometre section of the new metro tunnels. Acciona Ferrovial Joint Venture (AFJV) was awarded the Central Tunnelling Package on the Sydney Metro West project. The contract included the delivery of twin 11-kilometre tunnels and excavation of five station boxes at Sydney Olympic Park, North Strathfield, Burwood North, Five Dock and The Bays. Sydney Metro West will double rail capacity between Parramatta and the Sydney CBD, with a target travel time of about 20 minutes between the two centres. TBM Daphne was named in honour of the pioneer for paralympic sport, Daphne Hilton, who competed in three Paralympic Games between 1960 and 1968 and set a record that is unlikely ever to be broken by winning 14 medals across five different sports - athletics, swimming, archery, table tennis and fencing. TBM Beatrice’s namesake was iconic local newspaper seller Beatrice Bush who sold newspapers for over 25 years from the traffic island at the intersection of Victoria Road and The Crescent in White Bay. It is estimated she sold five million papers between 1971 to 1996, passing away six days after she sold her last paper.