LACTMA’s TBM Harriet retires after digging twin tunnels

Written by Maggie Lancaster, assistant editor
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LACMTA

Now that Harriet the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) completed her second tunnel at the Leimert Park Station for the Crenshaw/LAX Line, the Los Angeles County Transportation Authority (LACTMA) has announced her retirement.

Since she began digging the twin tunnels last year, Harriett, a 950-ton, 400-foot-long TBM advanced an average of 60 feet a day through soil and rock under Crenshaw Boulevard. Installation of rail tracks has begun in the southbound tunnel. The 8.5-mile light rail line is scheduled to open in fall 2019.

The TBM was named after Harriet Tubman, the famous African-American abolitionist and humanitarian who helped slaves escape the South using a network of safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. A local student suggested the name as part of a contest held by Metro.

The one-mile tunnels connect the project’s three underground stations: Expo/Crenshaw, Martin Luther King Jr. and Leimert Park. The $2.058-billion Crenshaw/LAX Line includes eight new stations: Crenshaw/Expo, Martin Luther King Jr., Leimert Park, Hyde Park, Fairview Heights, Downtown Inglewood, Westchester/Veterans and Aviation/Century.

“This Measure R project will become a reality in the fall of 2019 will be a vital component of Metro’s transit revolution,” said Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington. “And this project will join other transit, road, walking and bike projects funded by Measure R and Measure M that will transform the Los Angeles urban landscape.”
A ninth station to be built separate from this project will be located at Aviation Boulevard and 96th Street and will be the transfer point between Metro Rail and an automated people mover that will serve the LAX terminals. Los Angeles World Airports is building the people mover and has targeted a 2023 completion date.

To keep up with this and other light-rail projects happening around the world, visit IRJ Pro.

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