The NFM Technologies TBM working on the high speed railway line between Madrid and Gijon in Spain has set a new progress record for single shield machines in Spain, having bored through 1,140m in a single month.

NFM Technologies also held the previous record for this type of machine. The machine named "La Adelantada" supplied in 1996 for the Madrid subway system, excavated 1,012m in a month.

The new performance was achieved as part of the Pajares Sotiello project (Lot 5 of the Pajares project). The project includes the construction of a twin tube tunnel and a twin bridge viaduct.

The 9.90m diameter hard rock TBM named Via Carisa made its breakthrough last September, having bored through 5,900m of tunnel in less than eight months. The clients, FCC and ACCIONA, were happy with the excellent progress achieved by the machine in spite of difficult geological conditions and the presence of pockets of methane.

The hard rock machine was adapted for the Sotiello tunnel once it had excavated 10,400m for Lot 1 of the Pajares tunnel. Of all of the tunnelling machines used for this first lot, the NFM Technologies machine had already proved itself to be efficient and robust by being the first to finish its excavation work.