Skip to main content

German minister oversees huge Herrenknecht TBM tunnel deal for Wuhan, China

German Minister of Economy and Energy, Sigmar Gabriel, attended the signing of a prized contract for the delivery of two Herrenknecht tunnel boring machines (TBM) for a large multi-functional tunnel in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
April 28, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
German Minister of Economy and Energy, Sigmar Gabriel, attended the signing of a prized contract for the delivery of two 2592 Herrenknecht tunnel boring machines (TBM) for a large multi-functional tunnel in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The German firm’s key contract with 5250 Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co (STEC) was signed in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province on 23 April 2014 and will see Herrenknecht TBM’s play a vital role in extending Wuhan’s Metro network from three to seven lines, from 73km to 215km, by 2017. The megaproject in Wuhan, which has a population of 10 million, will enhance the city’s status as the most important transport hub in central China.

The two Mixshields with an excavation diameter of 15.76m being supplied to STEC by Herrenknecht will Cross under the Yangtze River in Wuhan and create a twin-bore double-decker tunnel. A three-lane road will run on the upper deck, with Metro line 7 below. The 2,590m long tunnel alignment runs up to 39.5m below the water surface in complex soil. On the one hand, a high water pressure of 5.3bar must be dealt with. In addition, the tunnel runs through varying geological formations, partly completely sand and clay, partly a mixed geology with mudstone, conglomerates and sand.

With its size and multi-purpose use, the Wuhan multi-functional tunnel construction is said to be a flagship project for mechanised tunnelling worldwide.

Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co (STEC) has previously used Herrenknecht equipment on a number of other large-scale tunnelling projects in China, usually months ahead of schedule. These include several large-diameter road tunnels in Hangzhou and Shanghai.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New tunnelling technology offering greater efficiency
    January 4, 2017
    Tunnelling technology is seeing major developments that will boost construction efficiency - Mike Woof writes Both in tunnel drilling and TBM systems, new machines are now being built that offer major gains in performance. Sandvik is introducing a number of major new models developments to its tunnelling drill range. Three new tunnelling jumbos are now available that suit different drilling requirements, the DD422iE, DT912D and DT922i. The firm says that its advanced DD422iE rig offers major advantage
  • Bangladesh tunnel project to use Chinese TBM
    March 28, 2018
    A Chinese firm has won the contract to supply the tunnel boring machine (TBM) for a major road tunnelling project in Bangladesh. The Chinese manufacturer, Tianhe Mechanical Equipment Manufacturing (Tianhe Mechanical), is building the TBM to the specific design requirements of the client. This piece of equipment is the largest TBM built so far in China and tips the scales at 2,200tonnes, while it features a cutter diameter of 12.12m. The TBM will be used to drive a 3.5km-long road tunnel running under the K
  • Times they are a changing
    July 23, 2012
    Construction in China still appears to be on course for growth even with the gloomy economic outlook, as it enjoys "a strong budgets position." Patrick Smith reports One thing is certain in the current global economic climate: nothing is certain. And while China has not been unaffected by the economic events of recent months it has, according to Robert Zoellinck, president of the World Bank, a very strong current account and budgetary position. For some years, the nation has enjoyed double digit growth (the
  • Testing and striping underway for Seattle’s Alaskan Way tunnel
    October 18, 2018
    Crews have been working flat out on the Alaskan Way Tunnel in Seattle to install and test thousands of components and 90 interconnected systems.The client, Washington State Department of Transportation, said that Seattle Tunnel Partners began installation inside the double-deck State Route 99 tunnel in March after crews completed construction of the upper and lower roadways. STP said that testing could be complete by late September and the tunnel could open as soon as this fall after an approximate three-w