Tunnelling has started on Poland’s first bored railway tunnel.
The tunnel on railway line No. 104 between Limanowa and Klęczany is also the country’s longest rail tunnel.
TBM Kinga has started work and TBM Jadwiga will be launched shortly to build 3.8km-long parallel tunnels.
TBM Jadwiga is the larger of the two Chinese machines, with a diameter of almost 11m, a length of 85m and a total weight of 2,534 tons. Its planned excavation time is 10-12 months.
The 4.8m-diameter TBM Kinga machine is 170m long and weights 600 tonnes.
The TBMs, which are being operated by the consortium of Budimex and Gülermak, were named in honour of Polish saints of the Catholic Church, Queen Jadwiga of Anjou and Princess Kinga, who were associated with the region.
Budimex president Artur Popko said the consortium had been working on section D Limanowa – Klęczany siding on LK No. 104 for a year and it was one of the most important railway projects in recent years.
“For this reason, we have decided to invest in new boring machines, which significantly increase our efficiency and precision,” he said.
Gülermak CEO Bülent Özdemir said it was a historic moment for Poland’s railways.
“The construction of the first railway tunnel drilled using the TBM method has just begun. The shields will cover an average of several meters per day, operating 24 hours a day. However, we are not about breaking records. Above all, we want to drill safely and effectively. In Poland, our shields have drilled over 40km of tunnels, and after the completion of two tunnels under this contract, it will be 50km,” he said.”
Marcin Curkowicz, deputy contract manager for technical affairs from Region 2 Budimex’s Railway Construction Division, said transporting the two TBMs was a huge logistical challenge.
“The whole thing had to be transported to the construction site using a total of 118 truck combinations,” he said.
