Order for world's largest TBM

Russian operator company NCC (Nevskaya Concession Company) has placed an order with German manufacturer Herrenknecht for the world's largest tunnel boring machine (TBM). The Mixshield TBM, for construction of the Orlovski Tunnel, "will surpass all previous TBMs" with a diameter of 19.25m and it is designed to construct a mega-tunnel to link both halves of the centre of Russia's second city St Petersburg under the River Neva and speed up traffic.
April 10, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

Russian operator company NCC (Nevskaya Concession Company) has placed an order with German manufacturer Herrenknecht for the world's largest tunnel boring machine (TBM).

The Mixshield TBM, for construction of the Orlovski Tunnel, "will surpass all previous TBMs" with a diameter of 19.25m and it is designed to construct a mega-tunnel to link both halves of the centre of Russia's second city St Petersburg under the River Neva and speed up traffic.

At the contract signing, entrepreneur Martin 2592 Herrenknecht met the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the city at a high level business meeting.

"Prime Minister Putin wanted to find out at first-hand about the gigantic automobile tunnel project, an extremely challenging construction project under the River Neva," says Herrenknecht.

The TBM contract is the biggest single order in the company's history and represents a huge technical challenge, which "has been well prepared by extremely thorough, intensive preparatory engineering collaboration between the customer and the contractor." Including the back-up the Herrenknecht Mixshield will be 82m long, and on its own the tunnelling shield will weigh around 3,800tonnes and deliver 8,400kW drive power to the cutting wheel.

The leap in diameter to 19.25m will enable the machine to excavate 600m³ of soil hourly, and the excavation area is said to be more than 50% larger than that for the largest TBM currently in operation in the world.

"A Mixshield is the quickest and safest solution for driving the around 1km-long tunnel bore under the Neva in the face of the high groundwater pressures. An extremely ambitious timetable has been set for implementation of the project," says Herrenknecht.

Tunnelling is set to begin in St Petersburg in the spring of 2013 with the tunnel due to be taken into operation in 2016.

At present, vehicles have to use the various bridges in order to cross the River Neva from the city centre to the northern districts and the orbital freeway.

The mega-tunnel, with two three-lane carriageway levels will considerably improve the traffic capacity.
Road Structures

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • CONEXPO Russia is rouble rouser
    July 19, 2012
    Huge investment in new and existing Russian transport infrastructure has created a wealth of commercial opportunities for major construction equipment manufacturers as Guy Woodford discovered at the recent CTT 2012/CONEXPO Russia exhibition A 20% rise in visitor numbers and a 15% increase in exhibitors at this year’s CTT 2012/CONEXPO Russia, compared to 2011 show levels, illustrated the attraction of big infrastructure project spending in Russia to the world’s largest construction equipment companies.
    Read More
  • Highway developments to boost east-west transport
    February 16, 2012
    Huge highway developments are being planned and carried out to further improve East-West transport, with Central Asia a key region as Patrick Smith reports
    Read More
  • Smaller contractors wanted for Melbourne’s North East Link project
    September 27, 2018
    Australia’s Victoria state government has moved to ensure smaller contractors get a share of the US$12 billion worth of Melbourne city’s North East Link contracts. According to a report in the Australian Financial Review, Victoria state treasurer Tim Pallas said that consortiums bidding for North East Link could not include more than one of the top three local contractors. This is to encourage more international companies and smaller Australian contractors to tender for the proposed 26km project.
    Read More
  • Tunnel Boom in Central and Eastern Europe
    September 15, 2015
    Following the success of the 41st World Tunnel Congress held in Croatia last May, World Highways looks at two signi_ cant projects in Slovakia and Serbia – Adriana Potts reports Central and Eastern Europe is buzzing with a number of major projects being developed - including highways, bridges and tunnels – and with many more in the pipeline. The region is expected to be highly active with plans for developing infrastructure in the next two decades, according to Davorin Koli , president of the Croatian
    Read More

Highlighted Content