Hundreds of locals lined Cooma’s main street on Sunday night to watch one of the largest Snowy 2.0 truck movements pass through town.

In Cooma’s CBD and along Sharp Street, hundreds gathered to witness the historic moment.

The truck movement saw five trucks and a trailer, at nearly 100 metres long and 450 tonnes, transport the motor for the Snowy 2.0’s new tunnel boring machine (TBM) Monica to its worksite near Kiandra.

Snowy Hydro hosted a free event with live music, food and drinks as the community came together to share the moment.

“I’ve never seen so many people in Sharp Street on a Sunday night at that time. It was exciting to see and I’m glad to have been part of it,” Cooma resident, Betty Longhurst, said.

The truck movement made its way through Cooma just before midnight.

The rig had 30 axles, 210 wheels and was 7.7 metres wide.

Earlier this month, the large centre block of the 12 metre TBM Monica cutterhead passed through the region at night.

The truck transfer took four night time movements to transport part of the cutterhead from Port Kembla to Marica (just north of Kiandra), passing through three police districts along its journey.

The TBM will be 178 metres long, and is purpose-built to excavate five kilometres through the complex Long Plains fault zone.

In mid-2024, Snowy Hydro submitted a modification application to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, seeking approval to ‘excavate an additional construction access tunnel to connect to the western end of the headrace tunnel.’

At the time, Snowy Hydro CEO, Dennis Barnes, said the ‘disappointing’ performance of TBM Florence has contributed to the purchase of a new machine.

“It’s difficult to say with certainty whether the same action would be needed if Florence had performed as we had hoped.

“However, it’s likely that the fourth machine would still be needed,” Mr Barnes said.