It was a tiny chunk at first, then a larger one -- and then with a thundering crash, the tunnel boring machine broke through the dirt around the future site of a station for the new Canada Line Sunday morning.

After grinding under downtown Vancouver for much of the past year, the boring of two side-by-side tunnels for a leg of the massive transit project to link Vancouver, Richmond and the Vancouver International Airport is complete.

One by one, workers crawled out of the 440-tonne machine, to hugs, cheers and a celebration.

"It's like the birth of my son, maybe not a good comparison, but now the feeling is like that," said one man.

The project is on time and on budget, said B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, who was on hand for the ceremony.

"This is on budget and more important, well, equally important, this is actually ahead of schedule," said Campbell.

"That is one big machine," said one spectator.

The completion of the second tunnel means that work can now begin on the Canada Line's Waterfront Station.

The government hopes to have the roads re-paved and downtown looking like normal in about a year.

Last April, the tunnel machine reached another important milestone when it broke ground north of Pender Street on Granville Street, completing the first 2.5-kilometer segment of track.

The 440-tonne machine was then taken apart transported back to its starting place in False Creek to start the second leg of the tunnel.

The Canada Line will eventually have 16 stations along over 19 km of track from downtown Vancouver to downtown Richmond, including a line that will run directly to the Vancouver International Airport.

Officials say the train's capacity will be equivalent to ten road lanes and will be an important new link to the region's transportation network.

The cut and cover portion of the track, which reaches from 2nd Avenue to 41st Avenue, is scheduled for completion in December 2008.

Tunnel-Boring Machine Facts:

  • Length: 86 metres
  • Diameter: 6.1 metres
  • Weight: 440 tonnes
  • Navigation system: GPS tracking system that is accurate within an inch
  • Speed: 10 metres per day
  • Depth of tunnel: Between 10 and 30 metres
  • Tunnel internal diameter: 5.3 metres
  • Tunnel support: About 20,000 steel-reinforced concrete lining segments over the 2.5 km of tunnel

With a report from CTV British Columbia's St. John Alexander