Massive tunnel-boring machine begins drilling Montreal’s blue line metro extension

A major step is underway to extend Montreal’s metro blue line east to Anjou, with excavation now officially in progress. A massive tunnel-boring machine has begun drilling eastbound, launching what will be a two-year effort to carve out roughly five kilometres of tunnel and make way for five new stations. The machine itself is a striking piece of engineering, spanning three storeys in diameter and weighing about 2,000 tonnes. Built in Montreal over the past three months after arriving in February, the German-made drill is designed to break through rock and debris while simultaneously construct…