The ACE joint venture of contractors Somague, BPC, ENGIL, SPIE and SBES has won the contract to construct the Lisbon Metro Red Line Extension in Portugal. The 1.5km long tunnel will connect the existing Green, Yellow and Blue metro lines as it runs in an east/west direction.
ACE contracted Canadian TBM manufacturer Lovat to carry out refurbishment work on one of its RME386SE Series 15500 EPBMs. Work was carried out on the cutterhead that included adding disc cutters to the nose area in order to deal with the rock anticipated along the route. A new main bearing and sealing system were also supplied and installed as part of the work programme.
Lovat technicians and welders carried out the work in an ACE workshop to the north of Lisbon, with additional support from local artisans. The TBM was then transported to the downtown region of the city for assembly at the Alameda launch shaft site. Lovat supervised the commissioning and testing onsite.
As T&TI went to press at the end of October, the TBM was due to commence boring.
