Bids are to be submitted by the end of February for construction of the 40km long, 27 station underground extension to the Madrid Metro. The regional government of Madrid announced plans for the Metrosur extension in the summer of 1999. The $1.4bn construction project was divided into 12 contracts.
The complete Metrosur is in fact split into 15 contracts but three of these are for construction of the southerly extension to Line 10 to connect the existing network to the new Metrosur project.
Up to five 9.4m diameter EPBMs will be used to construct the single- bore, twin-track tunnels. Four of these were used previously on the Madrid Metro, and comprise two Herrenknecht and two Mitsubishi–NFM machines. A fifth may be employed, depending on the contract.
The Metrosur is scheduled for commissioning by Christmas 2002.
Meanwhile, construction of the city’s Line 8 extension between Mar de Cristal and Nuevos Ministerios was scheduled to begin as T&T International went to press, with traffic deviation permits having been awarded by the city authorities.
The contractor, a JV of Nesco/Ferrovial/ACS, will begin the $205m line with construction of the station at Nuevos Ministerios and the shafts for the two EPBMs. Both are 9.4m diameter Herrenknecht machines; the first is Paloma (which built Line 9) and the second is Almudena, from Line 7.
The lining for both the Metrosur and Line 8 extensions is a 7 dowel universal ring.
