By lyndamyer
On 9 June 2022, the opening ceremony of the first TBM to be used in order to excavate the access tunnel of the Gotthard motorway tunnel’s second tube was held. While the Client is the Federal Roads Office FEDRO, the designers and the construction management are the DL Bedrina consortium, led by the Pini Group. In order to dominate the South disturbance zone (Guspis), which is about 300 m long and placed 4.9 km from the Airolo portal, the intended TBM from this summer is due to dig the access tunnel.
TBM Delia is named after Reto Marti’s daughter, who represents the 4th generation of the Marti family, and is operated by Valentina Kumpusch project manager for the Client, Sergio Massignani for Marti Group and Daniele Stocker as project manager for the works management of Pini Group.
Additionally, the assembly process of a second TBM is undergoing and it is going to excavate the access tunnel from the north side to overcome the Fault zone (Mesozoic), which is 270 m long and 4 km away from the Göschenen portal. Due to the usage of these two access tunnels, the two TBMs that are due to bore the main tunnel will be able to proceed smoothly.
Starting last autumn, preparatory work is continuing on both the north and south side for the excavation of the main tunnel, which is planned to commence in 2024. Work on moving the service tunnel has already been completed in Airolo, whereas in Göschenen it will be completed in the coming weeks.
