TBM RECORDER
First of two NFM mega EPBMs ready for Spain
Nov 2011
TunnelTalk reporting
- The first of two 14m diameter TBMs manufactured by NFM Technologies in France is assembled, factory tested and customer accepted ready for delivery to Spain.
- The two mega-EPBMs are ordered by two Spanish consortia awarded contracts to complete the Guadalquivir River crossings on the new 78km long SE-40 ring-road around the city of Seville.
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NFM 14m EPBM ready for shipment to Spain
- One machine will excavate twin 2,180m-long three-lane tunnel drives under one channel of the Guadalquivir River, while the other will complete parallel 1,900m drives under the other channel, for a total of some 8km.
- The first group to take delivery of its mega EPBM is the OHL/SANDO/AZVI consortium. After disassembly, the machine components are due to leave the NFM Le Creusot factory near Lyon in France during January 2012, with assembly and start of excavation expected by Spring 2012.
- The second machine is on order by the COPISA/ALDESA/BRUESA group. Manufacture of its mega EPBM is scheduled for factory testing and acceptance in Summer 2012 and dispatch during Autumn.
- The contracts with NFM provide for not only the design, manufacture and on-site assembly and dismantling of the TBMs, but also technical assistance during the operational phase.
- Both machines will operate through principally sand, gravel and marl and all under the influence of a high water table and the river levels above. The machines are designed to withstand 5 bars working pressures as well as for safe and efficient hyperbaric interventions. Four independent injection systems for bentonite, limestone loam, foam and polymer will ensure optimal control of earth pressures under the river.
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Fig 1. Plan of the four SE-40 Guadalquivir River crossings
- The construction contracts are with the Spanish national roads authority Sociedad Estatal de Infraestructuras del Transporte Terrestre (SEITT). Spain's national economic crisis created some doubt over the future of the project and delayed the first machine from the original February delivery date, but funding of this European Union Trans-European Network (TEN) priority project has remained committed. Some €450 million (US$613 million) of the total cost is allocated via the SEITT as part of its revised infrastructure development plan, and is backed for the remained by the EU and as part of its European Economic Recovery Plan.
- Construction of the new ring road aims to reduce congestion on the existing ring road to provide improved transportation through the Seville metropolitan area and its 1.43 million inhabitants. It will also optimize Spain's regional and national road network.
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Mega EPBMs for Spanish river crossing - TunnelTalk, April 2010
Tracking the world's mega-TBMs - TunnelTalk, Discussion Forum
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