Herrenknecht‘s Gotthard TBM is currently winging its way from the German factory at Schwanau to the AlpTransit construction site in southern Switzerland.
The major components of the 410m long, 8.83m diameter machine will start arriving at the southern portal at Bodio, mid-way through August ready to start construction of the world’s longest twin-tube tunnel, (57km) in November 2002.
Representatives of the construction JV, TAT (Tunnel AlpTransit – Ticono), accepted the machine with the client, ATG (AlpTransit Gotthard AG) at Herrenknecht’s Schwanau factory on 5 July.
The machine will start excavating the first bored section of the 16.6km long east tunnel through gneiss towards the intermediary heading at Faido, which is under construction (T&TI July ’02, p10). There, the TBM will be pulled through, and the diameter increased to 9.4m before it continues on the 15.1km drive to Sedrun.
As Herrenknecht delivers its machine for the world’s longest tunnel, designs are being discussed by the company for a colossal 17m diameter TBM – almost 3m larger than anything gone before. The planned project is believed to be a road tunnel to be built near Venice, Italy, but design and the construction dates have yet to be finalised.
