The massive piece of equipment that will excavate the tunnels for Montreal’s blue line metro extension was unveiled on Monday.
The 9.7-metre wide tunnel boring machine will dig through rock to create the tunnel from the future Vertières station to the Anjou station — a stretch of 4.6 kilometres.
It’s being described as the largest such drill in Quebec and an “engineering feat rarely seen” in the province.
Tunnelling will begin in April and won’t stop until the work is complete — at some point in 2028. It’s expected to excavate the rock at an average rate of 10 to 15 metres per day.
The tunnel boring machine arrived in Quebec in October and needed to be assembled. Though final assembly is ongoing, the components were recently successfully lowered to approximately 20 metres below ground level.
A handful of government officials were on hand for the unveiling of the machinery Monday, including Quebec Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility Jonatan Julien; Quebec Minister responsible for the Metropolis and the Montreal region Chantal Rouleau; and Aref Salem, chairman of the board of directors of the STM.
The entire blue line extension project, which has a price tag of $7.6 billion, won’t be complete before 2031. It will add five stations to the blue line, with names paying tribute to women and communities that have marked Montreal’s history.
Map of Montreal metro’s blue line with names of five new metro stations unveiled Sept. 9, 2025 (Courtesy: STM)