By Lynda Myer
While continuing its journey south, TBM Lilia has also bored its first 1,000 meters of tunnel.
As its first kilometer of tunneling this machine has successfully completed its drive last week, whereas its aim was connecting to her twin sister Ida in the West Main Tunnel and is also quickly working her way south in the East Main Tunnel.
Lilia achieved its first 1,000 meters of advance with a drill head diameter of 10.4 meters, a length of around 160 meters and a weight of around 2,420 tons.
The launch location of Lilia was the Ahrental assembly cavern on May 2nd 2023 almost 1,000 meters beneath the earth’s surface in the Austrian project area, and its intention was to reach the municipality of Navis and drive through 8.1 kilometers of the main east tunnel.
Christoph Waldhör, responsible for technical coordination on the H41 Sillschlucht-Pfons construction site, is very satisfied with the progress of the mechanical tunneling work on his construction lot and states:
“Lilia, like her twin sister Ida, has already navigated the Viggartal fault zone without any major problems. Parallel to the excavation, the two TBMs are also installing the inner shell of the tunnel. For this purpose, arcuate concrete segments are lined up in a ring. A complete ring consists of 6 segments and has a total weight of around 60 tons.”
In order to ensuring that the construction of the Brenner Base Tunnel is running at full speed, the mechanical advance of the two TBMs Lilia and Ida through the main tunnels towards the south is making a decisive contribution, hence the railway tunnel is going to have a lasting impact on mobility in Europe once it is completed.
