The TBM began excavation of the nearly 4km long north tube on the eastern side of the Vosges at the launch portal near Ernolsheim lès Saverne in November 2011. Two months ahead of schedule it was able to complete excavation of the first tube on the west side of the Vosges in late June 2012. During the advance the site teams achieved daily best performances of up to 46m.
The machine was then disassembled and set up ready to go again at the launch portal near Ernolsheim lès Saverne. In late September 2012 the TBM began with the excavation of the southern tube. During the five months of tunnelling, the site teams exceeded their daily best performances of the first tube; in one month they achieved a record performance of 1,014m in 30 days.
The rail tunnel is part of the section on the TGV Paris-Strasbourg line currently being expanded. The French TGV currently takes two hours and 20 minutes from Paris to Strasbourg. Further expansion eastwards over 106 kilometers through Alsace to Strasbourg is running at full speed in order to shorten the journey time for passengers by 30 minutes from 2016.
