ELLEN M. BANNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
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Workers stand in front of the tunnel boring machine, which is slowly being pushed out of the tunnel it just dug under Beacon Hill. The 300-foot-long machine drilling twin Link light rail tunnels through Beacon Hill in Seattle broke through the east side of the hill Monday morning. The "hole-through" completes the machine's first 4,300 foot trip. Obayashi Corporation launched the tunnel boring machine (TBM) in January 2006; in June the machine will be transported back to the west side of Beacon Hill to begin drilling the second tunnel. The first tunnel is for southbound trains, the other northbound. Both the tunnels and underground station are being built Obayashi along with the elevated Mt. Baker Station at Rainier Ave. S. and S. McClellan St. (5/8/07)