By rosebell
Following that at a ceremony at Herrenknecht’s Schwanau headquarters, the Herrenknecht TBM for Lot 241, which is the main northern section of the Gotthard road tunnel’s second tube, was accepted by the Implenia and Frutiger Gruppe consortium, it has successfully passed its Factory Acceptance Test.
The 12.3m diameter TBM is 120m long, weighs 1850 tonnes and has a maximum propulsive force of 95000kN.
Currently plan is dismantling and transporting the machine to Göschenen in Switzerland for assembly, because it will be launched in February to excavate a tunnel of almost 7km.
Additionally, digging for two underground ventilation centres, as well as construction of an underground concrete plant and production halls for tubing rings and service ducts in former military caverns, are the contents of Lot 241.
The location of new Gotthard tunnel is 70m to the east of the existing road tunnel which inaugurated in 1980 and carries traffic in both directions. Following completion of the new tunnel, older tunnel is due to be refurbished and each tunnel will have a single lane of traffic.
According to Implenia Switzerland’s head of tunnelling, Daniel Spörri: “The company was pleased to be able to make a valuable contribution to ensuring the mobility of future generations with our proven team and our many years of expertise. The second tube of the Gotthard Road Tunnel will make it possible to subject the existing tube to a comprehensive renovation from 2030 onwards and will contribute to improving road traffic safety on the busy north-south axis in the long term.”
