By rosebell
The official start of tunnelling for Munich’s S-Bahn expansion project has been marked with the ceremonial launch of the first TBM.
The Herrenknecht TBM, named Donna Maria, will excavate around 3km of exploration and evacuation tunnels for the 2nd S-Bahn main line, up to 40m below ground.
The ARGE Tunnel Hauptbahnhof consortium, comprising Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG, Firmengruppe Max Bögl,Züblin andBauer Group, will launch the 5m-diameter, 178m-long TBM from the West Tunnel portal. The drive to Marienhof will provide vital information for the next construction phase and the six TBMs that will excavate the three new railway tunnels.
The mixshield TBM Donna Maria has been designed for the challenging geology and urban environment of Munich’s city centre. It is expected to take a year to complete its journey.
The six TBMs that will be build the main tunnels will be launched from Donnersberger Bridge in the west and from Haidenauplatz at the eastern end of the route. They will dig their way towards Munich city centre and meet at the Marienhof underground station, around the halfway point. There, they will be dismantled and removed from the tunnel.
The Munich S-Bahn is 434km long with 150 stations and is one of Germany’s largest suburban rail networks.
The second Munich S-Bahn main line is one of Germany’s most important transport infrastructure projects. The approximately 11km-long line between Laim and Leuchtenbergring will relieve the existing main line, create additional capacity, and lay the foundation for a more efficient S-Bahn system in the growing Munich metropolitan region.
The line will have three new underground stations: Hauptbahnhof, Marienhof, and Ostbahnhof.
The core of the new connection is a 7km tunnel linking Munich’s main station Hauptbahnhof with the eastern hub Ostbahnhof.
