By Lynda Myer
On Friday, September 29, the Maria Leopoldina TBM, that is working on the construction of Line 6 of the Sao Paulo metro, in Brazil, arrived its fourth stop on the route Perdizes station, whereas it has already progressed 3,500 m underground and installed almost 1,650 rings.
Linking the Perdizes station with other ventilation shafts and future stations on the metro line, this TBM has 10.6 m diameter and 2,000 t weight. The current path of journey for this machine will be along the southern section to the next station, PUC-Cardoso de Almeida. While the final destination of this TBM is slated to be the future Sao Joaquim station, it is due to continue excavation, passing through six more stations before reaching this station.
The TBM is operated by a team of 50 workers, divided into three shifts. It is equipped with a canteen, a nurse’s cabin, a control cabin, auxiliary equipment and a conveyor belt for the more efficient and sustainable removal of excavated material.
Sao Paulo Metro Line 6
In order to serving over than 630,000 daily passengers, Line 6 of the Sao Paulo Metro is going to connect the Brasilandia neighbourhoods in the north with Sao Joaquim station in the center of the city.
Considering that the travel time on this route now is around one and a half hours by bus, inauguration of this new line will decrease this time to just 23 minutes.
As the largest infrastructure initiative currently underway in Latin America, this initiative’s determined budget for investment is more than EUR1.285 bn.
Advancing this project as a public-private partnership (PPP) is up to the Government of the State of São Paulo and the concessionaire, Linha Universidade (Linha Uni). While the work is being implemented by Acciona, the line will be operated by Linha Uni for 19 years following its completion.
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