Metro Tunnel Melbourne

Real-time tunnel deformation monitoring with patented Cyclops technology, safeguarding Melbourne’s City Loop during State Library Station cavern works.

About Metro Tunnel

The Metro Tunnel is Melbourne’s largest rail project since the City Loop was built in the 1970s. It involves building twin rail tunnels and five underground stations from North Melbourne through to the Domain precinct, south of the CBD. New underground walkways will connect Town Hall Station through to Flinders Street Station and State Library Station to Melbourne Central Station, allowing seamless connections for commuters between City Loop and Metro Tunnel services.

The Challenges

The construction of the State Library Station Cavern involves mining twin nozzle tunnels that come within less than 1m of the existing City Loop tunnels, which are critical to the smooth running of Melbourne’s entire public transport network and must not be impacted by Metro Tunnel construction in any way.

What we’ve delivered

Sixense has installed its patented Cyclops system in each of the four City Loop tunnels for the monitoring of tunnel deformation in real-time.
Displacement data with sub-millimetre precision is delivered to our client in real-time whilst trains continuously travel through the tunnel, ensuring all stakeholders that tunnel construction works are not impacting the safe operation of existing passenger train services.
The Cyclops systems have been running continously and with minimal service interventions due to very limited access windows.