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

  • Drilling rig meets the utility supply challenge
    April 11, 2012
    A tricky utility supply project has been carried out in difficult conditions in Germany, without disturbing a village access road. The drilling work for the project was operated by boring contractor Beermann and the site was located on a plateau some 5km from the nearest village.
  • Drilling rig meets the utility supply challenge
    May 9, 2012
    A tricky utility supply project has been carried out in difficult conditions in Germany, without disturbing a village access road. The drilling work for the project was operated by boring contractor Beermann and the site was located on a plateau some 5km from the nearest village.
  • Wirtgen Group machines delivering new runway for German airbase
    October 26, 2016
    Machines from the Wirtgen Group are carrying out an important reconstruction job for the surface course at Büchel Air Base. Road machinery from Hamm, Vögele and Wirtgen as well as asphalt plants from Benninghoven have been carrying out the work, delivering a new runway within a tight timeframe. To achieve this, the work had to be planned well in advance, with the contractors organising the logistics and their personnel accordingly.
  • Zhejiang Jiashao Bridge Investment & Development Co
    April 6, 2017
    Located in Zhejiang Province of China, Jiashao Bridge spans the Qiantang River and connects the cities of Jiaxing and Shaoxing. The total length of the bridge project is 10.14km and carries an eight-lane expressway The Qiantang River suffers from a high flow rate of up to 7.5m/s. As the tidal range is around 7-9m, the water depth is less than 2m in time of low level tide, so ships can only move at high tide and large scale ship-lifting equipment cannot be used downstream of Jiashao Bridge. However, to