By ashleykaren
A Herrenknecht tunnel boring machine that will excavate one of the tunnels for the Oslo New Water Supply Project has reached the Norwegian capital.
The TBM was manufactured in Germany, and its most extensive and heaviest parts were traveled by ship to Norway. At Ormsundkaia, they were loaded onto trailers and moved to the construction site at Stubberud.
Now, the machine will be assembled in a mountain hall before AF Ghella Joint Venture launches it to excavate an 11 km-long tunnel from Stubberud to Huseby. Once fully assembled, the machine will be 200m long, weigh about 2000 tons, and have more than 7m diameter.
The AF Ghella Joint Venture is responsible for constructing the tunnel system to distribute drinking water from the water treatment plant at Huseby. In addition, the E6 contract contains building four large rock caverns, two clean water basins, a pumping station, and a ventilation station.
Skanska Norway, which holds the E5 contract, launched two 5.2m diameter Herrenknecht tunnel boring machines in April to excavate the 19km tunnel from Holsfjord to the new underground water treatment plant at Huseby.
The NOK26.8bn (€2.34bn/US$2.51bn) water scheme is a significant one undertaken by the City of Oslo Municipality to deliver water supply security via a new clean water tunnel from Holsfjord, west of the capital, and an underground treatment plant at Huseby.
Presently, a single water source and one treatment plant provide approximately 90% of the capital.
