Broadway Subway Project’s TBM breaks through Oak-VGH Station in Vancouver, Canada

*Image of the Oak-VGH station in the summer of 2023 (credits: Government of B.C.)*

The first of the two tunnel-boring machines (TBM) digging through the Broadway Subway Project broke through the Oak-VGH Station in Vancouver on October 12, 2023.

The news came on Friday, as the Government of British Columbia announced the milestone reached by the 150-meter-long TBM, named Phyllis.

Furthermore, Phyllis, along with the project’s second TBM, Elsie, which will reach the station later this fall, started working on the 5.7-kilometer-long Millenium Line extension from the Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station about a year ago, in October of 2022.

Broadway Subway Project map (image from www.broadwaysubway.ca)

Oak-VGH is the extension’s fourth station out of six, and during this past year Phyllis has excavated more than 2 kilometers of tunnel and installed about 1,330 concrete liner rings.

Phyllis reached the previous station, Broadway - City Hall, in May and departed again in August. Along its journey from there, it passed 22 meters below the Canada Line before ascending again at a 15-meter depth in Oak-VGH.

Now, the 6-meter diameter TBM is expected to pause its journey and undergo maintenance before continuing to South Granville Station.

Overall, the Broadway Subway Project is expected to cost $1.728bn and be completed in early 2026, slightly deviating from the original late 2025 estimate, while the journey time between Arbutus and VCC-Clack will be 11 minutes.