The first piece of a giant tunneling machine that will bore mile-long subway holes has been lowered into a pit in downtown Los Angeles.

The piece was lowered by crane on Oct. 19 in Little Tokyo. The tunneling machine, Angeli, will be assembled over the next few months.

Digging is expected to begin in January. The machine will drill twin tunnels to link the existing subway lines and new stations will then be built. The Regional Connect Transit Project will cost about $1.6 billion and is expected to be completed in 2021.

Large HDD Project Planned for Australia

Unitywater and Pipeline Drillers will use horizontal directional drilling to construct two new sewerage mains on the Sunshine Coast of Australia in a project estimated to be about $1.8 million U.S. dollars.

“This is one of the largest drilling programs undertaken by a water utility in Australia,” says Unitywater CEO George Theo in an article by the Sunshine Coast Daily. “It will be a landmark project for the community and Pipeline Drillers, with the longest and largest diameter high-density polyethylene pipe installed in Australia using HDD.”

Unitywater will build 1.5 mile and 2 mile sewerage mains for the project.