TBM RECORDER
Aker Wirth TBM in transit
Aug 2010
Aker Wirth New Release
- After completing an 8m diameter tunnel in December 2009, and following an optimal workshop rebuild, the various parts of the latest Aker Wirth TBM have left the plant in Erkelenz, Germany, and are on their way to Switzerland where a tunnel is to be bored for the extension of a hydroelectric power plant.
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TBM workshop acceptance
- In the last few weeks before the delivery the machine was put through a comprehensive test programme. Basic functions were checked and the main drive of more than 4,000hp power was submitted to a 24hr endurance test – an obligatory test for every Aker Wirth TBM before being shipped. Our end-to-end, professional quality assurance system is highly appreciated and valued by construction companies and project owners.
- All the components are now (early August) transported to the construction site in Tierfehd in the Swiss Canton Glarus directly on the way up to the Klausenpass about 80km south of Zürich. On site the machine will be assembled and ready to start drilling operations in the middle of October 2010 as scheduled. The machine is to bore a 4km access tunnel to the underground machine hall of a new pumped storage power plant in Limmern.
- The tunnel has a diameter of 8.03m and ascends at a constant gradient of 24% from 800m to about 1,700m above sea level. For this tunnel, the Aker Wirth TBM has been equipped with additional securing fixtures to cope with rising gradients. Up to now, rising inclined tunnels have only been carried out by machines of up to 6m diameter maximum.
- The Limmern access tunnel is therefore be the largest inclined operation of this kind to have ever been carried out with a tunnel boring machine.
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Journey through the streets of Switzerland
- Extension of the existing Kraftwerke Linth-Limmmern AG power installation with the new pumped storage plant is an important project for Switzerland's future electricity supply. The order for the machine was placed with Aker Wirth by the ARGE Zugangsstollen Limmern (AZL) consortium which is awarded the tunnel construction contract. The consortium partner companies are Rothpletz, Lienhard + Cie AG, Aarau (Switzerland), Baresel GmbH, Stuttgart (Germany), Wayss & Freytag, Frankfurt (Germany), G. Lazzarini & Co. AG, Chur (Switzerland), Andrea Pitsch AG, Thusis (Switzerland), and Ragotti+Weber Bau AG, Nestal (Switzerland). Work on the contract is progressing and TBM launch is schedule for mid-October.
- Aker Wirth is a leading equipment supplier serving the mining and civil construction industries since 1895. From its base in Erkelenz, Aker Wirth employs 700 people in 40 different countries. The company is a subsidiary of Aker Solutions AS of Norway.
- Steep TBM drive for Swiss hydro scheme - TunnelTalk, Feb 2010
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