Tunnel boring machine has breakthrough in downtown L.A.

A welder prepares for the tunnel-boring machine “Angeli” to break through a wall of dirt at the 2nd Place/Hope Street Station in downtown Los Angeles.

Crews prepares for “Angeli” to break through a wall of dirt in downtown Los Angeles.

Crews watch a piece of L.A. transit history as the tunnel-boring machine “Angeli” breaks through in downtown Los Angeles.

Workers and media watch the tunnel breakthrough.

Some crew members involved in the project get their photo taken in front of the giant machine.

Work crews watch as the tunnel-boring machine breaks through after its subterranean journey began four months ago in Little Tokyo.

Project engineer Christophe Bragard and other crew members take pictures at the tunnel breakthrough.

Workers take pictures as the tunnel-boring machine cuts through the dirt. b

On its 1,440-foot journey from Little Tokyo to Bunker Hill, Angeli consumed 6,000 cubic yards of earth, or enough to fill 6,000 dump trucks.

The light-rail tunnels ultimately will connect Metro’s Blue, Expo and Gold lines.

When it’s completed, the Bunker Hill station will be in a class of its own. At 110 feet below street level, it will be the only station without escalators, instead relying on a bank of elevators to lower passengers to the platform.