Angeli, the tunnel boring machine (TBM) mining the underground tunnels for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Regional Connector Transit Project, achieved a key construction milestone this month by completing the second tunnel and will now officially retire from the light rail project.
“Connecting our rail systems makes our communities more inclusive, brings our neighborhoods closer together, and provides our region with a shared sense of belonging,” said Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chair Eric Garcetti. “Angeli has been hard at work over the last year digging tunnels that will bring us an interconnected transit network, and today’s milestone is an example of the progress we’re making.”
Angeli was lowered into the ground near the Little Tokyo/Arts District Station at 1st and Central in late 2016 and began digging the tunnels in early 2017. The first tunnel was completed in July.
Angeli was then taken apart and transported back to the 1st and Central Station site in Little Tokyo where the TBM was reassembled to begin mining the second tunnel. That work was finished in January.
