File:Sydney Metro- City & Southwest drill rigs

Meet Iman and Florance, two giant self-propelled drill rigs tasked with drilling 300,000 holes in Sydney’s new twin metro tunnels between Chatswood and Sydenham on the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project.

Each rig weighs 20 tonnes and is 15 metres long, 3.2 metres wide, and 3.8 tall. They can each drill one hole every 30 seconds – or about 1,000 holes a day.

The holes will be used to install walkways and critical services such as cables and fire mains inside the twin metro tunnels.

The Sydney Metro City & Southwest project extends metro rail from Sydney’s north west, under Sydney Harbour, through new underground city stations and beyond to the south west.

When open in 2024, Sydney will have 31 metro stations and a 66-kilometre standalone metro railway.