It arrived in January and took two months to assemble but, since March, "Alice" the tunnel boring machine has been working its way through the Clarke Road hill to make way for the Evergreen Line.
On average, the tunnel bores through about 8 m of earth each day and will take up to a year to get through the 2-km tunnel to Burquitlam's portal just south of Kemsley Avenue.
Want some fun facts on big Alice? She's 11 m long but extends to 85 m when attached to the trailing gear (the conveyer belt system that removes material); the head of the machine weighs 109 tons (or 28 elephants); and the entire machine is 1,100 tons.
