Canadian manufacturer Lovat has continued its move into the Italian market with the design and manufacture order of its second large diameter TBM to the $320M, 9.6km long Line 1 of the Turin Metro project.
The second and most recent order at the end of last year was from the Italian construction JV, Grandi Lavori Fincosit/SELI who will use the 7.7m diameter machine to bore 3.5km of tunnel on Line 1 of the metro. Lovat secured the first machine order from the Grandi Lavori Fincosit/SELI/Grassato JV in summer 2001 to design and manufacture a 7.7m diameter TBM to bore 3.8km of the same line. Both machines are equipped with bi-directional, variable speed mixed ground cutterheads needed to bore through the cobbles, gravel, sand and fines expected along the alignment. Lining will consist of 300mm thick pre-cast concrete segments bringing the i.d to 6.9m. Construction schedules are designed to have Line 1 up and running in November 2005 in time for the 2006 Winter Olympics.
The TBMs are the third and fourth large diameter Lovat machines to be sold to Italy.
