Around 4am today, the section of piping detached from its brackets on the side of the tunnel wall and slid to the tunnel floor. An amount of slurry has spilled into the tunnel as a result.
The pipes carry slurry to and from TBM Sandy, to control the pressure at the face of the machine.
TBM Sandy was stopped immediately. No one was injured, and the incident is not expected to cause any ground disturbance.
TBM Grace is unaffected, as it was already stopped in the Redcliffe Station box for maintenance. Grace is about 400m ahead of Sandy, and operates in a separate tunnel (Tunnel One).
An investigation is under way into what caused the incident.
It is anticipated that repairing the pipes and cleaning up the spilt material will take about a week, at which point TBM Sandy can continue towards Redcliffe Station.
The PTA is working closely with the contactor, Salini-Impregilo-NRW. WorkSafe is also aware of the incident.
Media line: (08) 9326 2526 or media@pta.wa.gov.au