The TBM working on Lot 3 of the Toulouse metro Line C has completed the first section.
Implenia-Demathieu Bard Construction launched TBM Marie-Thérèse de Villeneuve-Arifat from Raisin station in October last year to dig the 3.8km tunnel for Lot 3. The first drive to Bonnefoy station was 872m long and the TBM installed 526 rings.
Implenia said the tight space in the launch shaft meant a phased assembly was required for the seven trailers of the 142m-long machine.
“It was in January 2025 that this formidable machine was able to reach its cruising speed once all the equipment and services were installed and operational,” the company says on LinkedIn.
The variable density TBM will now continue to the future Matabiau Gare station where it is expected to arrive this summer.
The 27km-long Line C will connect Colomiers on the western side of Toulouse, to Labège in the south with journey times of 20 minutes.
Lot 3 comprises the excavation of a 3.8km-long tunnel in a dense urban environment as well as civil engineering works for the construction of four underground stations at a depth of 24-39m and three ventilation shafts.
