Light at End of Tunnel : Subway Diggers Break Through to First Station on the Red Line

As breakthroughs go, it didn’t sound or look like much.

First, there was a gentle scraping noise as the digging apparatus--sort of like a

backhoe--began clawing away from the other side at the last foot or so of earth that separated the unseen tunnelers from the vast, subterranean cavern where contractors, transit officials and news reporters waited.

Then a little clump of dirt fell through, and you could see the light from the other side. The machine clawed away a little more dirt, enlarging the hole to perhaps eight feet in diameter, and about a dozen tunnelers crawled through to get their pictures taken.

It was about 9:15 a.m. Friday, and they were the first men to travel from one station to another on Los Angeles’ new Metro Red Line subway system.

1st Complete Segment

Their journey--in work cars and on foot--marked the completion of digging for the first of two, parallel, 4,000-foot tunnels that eventually will carry subway passengers between the line’s eastern terminus, at Union Station, and its first intermediate station, at the Civic Center. Work on the second tunnel between the two stations is scheduled to start soon.

Completion of the first 4.4 miles of the system--already postponed twice--currently is expected in September, 1993, according to Rapid Transit District officials.

The tunneling efforts are about one-third complete. However, work on the five underground stations for the first $1.25-billion phase of the subway program is still in the early stages. The breakthrough Friday morning was at the Civic Center station, which lies under Hill Street, between Temple and 1st streets.

Massive Hole

It’s still basically just a hole, covered by massive wooden timbers supporting the surface traffic that still rumbles along Hill Street. But it’s a vast hole--590 feet long, 65 feet wide and 85 feet deep--larger, engineers say, than most of the government buildings that surround it.

Massive steel-reinforced concrete columns are being poured to support the upper three levels of the four-level station, and tunneling gear is being moved into place for the twin shafts that will push south on Hill Street to the next station down the line, the one under construction at Pershing Square.