Local children have had the opportunity to see the mini tunnel boring machine they named up close before she got to work on the Melbourne Airport Rail Project.
The youngsters Jigsaw Childcare in Sunshine North and Milleara Integrated Learning and Development Centre in Keilor East took part in a competition to name one of two mini tunnel boring machines being used to create space for utility services under the rail corridor and surrounding roads.
Both centres picked Taylor as the preferred name and the machine was taken to meet the students which had named it.
Melbourne Airport Rail project staff also visited the early learning centres to teach the children more about the machines and the project through play-based activities, viewing animations and dressing up in hardhats and safety vests.
“Taylor” – who is two metres long and half a metre in diameter – is working at Slater Parade, Keilor East, where she will bore for nearly 50 metres, around 6 metres below ground.
She’s expected to cover up to 12 metres per day.
Work at Keilor East and Sunshine North includes the construction of dedicated tracks for Melbourne Airport Rail services in the existing freight corridor between Sunshine and Airport West.
The new tracks will take trains to the new Keilor East station at Keilor Park, before crossing the Western Ring Road (M80 freeway) and then continuing on an elevated rail line along Airport Drive and arriving at the train station at Melbourne Airport.
The second machine will be launched in Gee Street, Sunshine North to do similar work.
Public Transport Minister and Niddrie MP Ben Carroll said it was great to see the local children and the community getting involved in this highly anticipated project.
