Tunnel-boring machine components for Broadway subway construction arrive in B.C.

The first shipment of parts for the custom-built tunnel-boring machines that will dig Vancouver's Broadway subway tunnels has arrived in B.C. (Province of B.C./Flickr)

The first shipment of parts for the custom-built tunnel-boring machines that will dig Vancouver's Broadway subway tunnels has arrived in B.C.

The provincial government announced the arrival of the parts in a news release Friday, though the shipment apparently arrived in the province earlier in the month.

A second - and final - shipment of equipment is expected "in the coming weeks," the Ministry of Transportation said in its statement.

The tunnel-boring machines will be assembled at a staging area in Vancouver in preparation for the launch of the machines at an official ceremony this summer.

The boring of the tunnels along the 5.7-kilometre route is expected to take about a year to complete.

The tunnels will serve all six stations of the Millennium Line SkyTrain extension project, from Great Northern Way to Arbutus Street.

Each boring machine is six metres wide and 150 metres long and weighs nearly one million kilograms, according to the ministry.

They were manufactured in Germany by Herrenknecht. The first shipment of parts departed that country on Feb. 25 and sailed through the Panama Canal, eventually arriving at the Fraser Surrey Docks on April 15.

When they're up and running, each tunnel-boring machine will have a staff of eight-to-12 controlling it and monitoring the operation's "vital signs," the ministry said.

The machines will bore approximately 18 metres of new tunnel each day, excavating roughly 200,000 cubic metres of soil.

The ministry said the machines will be named "later this spring."

The Millennium Line extension is scheduled to open in 2025.