NFM Technologies signed two contracts for two EPBMs earlier this month. The contracts were signed with two Spanish groups, OHL/Sando/Azvi and Copisa/Aldesa/Bruesa for the company Sociedad Estatal de Infraestructuras del Transporte Terrestre (SEITT).
The machines will be used in the construction of a 2180m tunnel, part of a new ring road, the SE-40, in Seville. The tunnel will run under the Guadalquivir river.
The contracts, worth around EUR 450M (USD 602.9M) provide for the design, manufacture and on site assembly and dismantling of the TBMs, as well as assistance during the operational phase. Manufacture of the TBMs will mainly be carried out at NFM’s Le Creusot plants in France and is scheduled to finish in February 2011.
The TBMs will each dig two 1900m long tubes under the Guadalquivir, in terrain principally composed of sand, gravel and marl. The machines will be designed to withstand a pressure of five bars and make hyperbaric interventions easier. They will comprise four independent injection systems, with the aim of ensuring better control of earth pressure under the river – Bentonite, limestone load, foam and polymer.
