Tunnelbuilder Promoting the world's tunnelling industry to a huge qualified audience

View the Spanish Tunnelbuilder website View the Italian Tunnelbuilder website

Archive - News

Featured News

Ten years of progress at tunnelbuilder.com

Ten years of progress at tunnelbuilder.com1st April, 1999. The Internet bubble had popped, first generation dot.com companies had gone bust, and magazines were looking sick. Recession was the name ... More Information

tunnelbuilder - meet the team

tunnelbuilder - meet the teamWhether you speak English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Welsh, or most other languages, we will understand you. Our people in London, Madrid, Milan, Las ... More Information

Brenner base tunnel moves ahead

Brenner base tunnel moves aheadAt talks held at the EU in Brussels last week, EU transport commissioner Antonio Tajani, Austrian transport minister Doris Bures, Italian transport minister Altero ... More Information

Recession lessons (11)

Recession lessons (11)"The international economic stimulus packages are creating unprecedented opportunities for the tunnelling profession. Engineers understand the risks, understand the realities, ... More Information

Turin metro reaches Dante station

Turin metro reaches Dante stationAt Turin metro, during the period 07.10.2008 to 12.03.2009, TBM Caterina completed excavation of the tunnel from Marconi station to Nizza station, and the 500 m-long ... More Information

Perschling chain breakthrough by Herrenknecht TBM

Perschling chain breakthrough by Herrenknecht TBMOn 11.03.2009, after meeting serious challenges during the construction phase, the Herrenknecht S-319 12,980 mm-diameter, 3,200 Kw single shield TBM ... More Information

Schlüchterner breakthrough by Wirth-NFM TBM

Schlüchterner breakthrough by Wirth-NFM TBMOn 19.03.2009, after nearly 23 months of intensive construction work, the 4 km-long Schluechterner tunnel on the Fulda-Frankfurt/Main railway achieved ... More Information

Epping-Chatswood tunnel cracks

Epping-Chatswood tunnel cracks The New South Wales Government in Australia is undertaking electronic monitoring of the EUR1.2 billion Epping to Chatswood railway line after cracks appeared in the ... More Information

Recruitment services in Toronto

Recruitment services in TorontoKevin Browning, Managing Director of International Tunnelling Services, is attending the 27th annual International No-Dig Show at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto, ... More Information

India - Robbins EPB surpasses records on New Delhi metro

India - Robbins EPB surpasses records on New Delhi metroIn February, 2009 one of two 6.52 m diameter Robbins EPBs boring India's New Delhi Metro achieved a weekly advance rate of 168 rings, or 202 ... More Information

Nororiente Motorway opened in Santiago, Chile

Nororiente Motorway opened in Santiago, ChileOn 9th March, 2009 Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile, and Luis del Rivero, Chairman of Sacyr Vallehermoso, opened the 21.5 km-long Nororiente ... More Information

NCE Crossrail Conference

NCE Crossrail ConferenceWill be held on Tuesday 31st March 2009 at the Hotel Russell, London W1The conference explores an expansive range of topics from design to procurement, construction to ... More Information

Rock mechanics, stability and design of tunnels and slopes

Rock mechanics, stability and design of tunnels and slopesProf. Dr.-Ing. Walter Wittke and Dr.-Ing. Bettina Wittke-Schmitt will host the 6th annual WBI-International short course from 26.11.2009 to ... More Information

International Symposium for Shanghai

International Symposium for ShanghaiThe fourth annual symposium on tunnelling, entitled Safety and Environmental Friendliness in Tunnel and Underground Works, is scheduled for Shanghai from October ... More Information

New concept tunneljobs.com relaunched

New concept tunneljobs.com relaunchedtunnelbuilder has relaunched its tunneljobs.com website, accessible through the Jobs button in the toolbar at the top of this page. tunneljobs.com has been ... More Information

RETC 2009 to be bigger, better than ever before

RETC 2009 to be bigger, better than ever beforeFrom ABC to ZED, more than 100 exhibitors are already signed up to RETC 2009, which takes place June 14-17 at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. A fair ... More Information

Figueres tunnel excavation underway

Figueres tunnel excavation underwayWork has started on the 1.75 km-long Figueres tunnel on the 7.48 km-long Borrassa-Figueres section of the Madrid-Barcelona-French Border high-speed railway line. ... More Information

High speed from Madrid to the Atlantic

High speed from Madrid to the AtlanticThe 87.1 km-long section from Ourense to Santiago de Compostela on the Madrid-Galicia electrified high-speed line is European standard, double track. It passes ... More Information

Italian tunnel upgrades announced

Italian tunnel upgrades announced Autostrade per l'Italia Spa has announced the awards of contracts to upgrade installations in 50 tunnels on the A1 and A7 motorways out of Milano. Medi Impianti ... More Information

Abu Dhabi by 2030

Abu Dhabi by 2030The Capital City District, currently under planning for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in the UAE, will house 350,000 people and provide 150,000 jobs. An integrated, high capacity transit ... More Information

Italian tunnel upgrades announced

Italian tunnel upgrades announced Autostrade per l'Italia Spa has announced the awards of contracts to upgrade installations in 50 tunnels on the A1 and A7 motorways out of Milano. Click here. 09/09. More Information

Excavation of Stafelter tunnel starts in Luxembourg

Excavation of Stafelter tunnel starts in Luxembourg Excavation of the 1.85 km-long twin tube Stafelter tunnel on the A7 Route du Nord began at the south portal on 18.02.2009. The tunnel, 200 m of ... More Information

Recession lessons (10)

Recession lessons (10)"Longterm, American business is a very good place to be, but sometimes the machine gets gummed up, and people get afraid. Fear is contagious: it takes five minutes to become ... More Information

Work starts in Laives tunnel

Work starts in Laives tunnelWork started on 10.02.2009 at the northern portal of the new 2,882 m-long, Laives tunnel in Trentino Alto Adige, Italy, which is part of the ring road between Bronzolo ... More Information

Robbins TBM designed to reduce diameter

Robbins TBM designed to reduce diameterThe Robbins main beam TBM employed at Akkoy II hydro project in northeast Turkey will bore a 6.7 km-long headrace at 4.8 m-diameter before downsizing to 4.0 ... More Information

New BASF excluder grease for TBMs

New BASF excluder grease for TBMsBASF Construction Chemicals has set up a dedicated production plant for main bearing sealing greases for the current generation of large, fast TBMs. Read the full ... More Information

Herrenknecht threesome for Mexico City

Herrenknecht threesome for Mexico CityHerrenknecht is providing three EPBs for the Mexico City Eastern Wastewater Tunnel, which will have a total length of 60 km at depths of up to 200 m. The first ... More Information

North American update

North American updateThe proposed replacement of the Alaskan Way viaduct in downtown Seattle with a 3.2 km-long bored double-deck road tunnel is symptomatic of the current trend in North America to ... More Information

North American update

North American updateThe proposed replacement of the Alaskan Way viaduct in downtown Seattle with a 3.2 km-long bored double-deck road tunnel is symptomatic of the current trend in North America to ... More Information

Almaty metro line 1 to open in 2009

Almaty metro line 1 to open in 2009Line 1 of Almaty metro in Kazakhstan has been a long time coming. Started in 1988, some 7 km of tunnel were bored, only to be abandoned when cash ran out. A new ... More Information

Martin Herrenknecht becomes first European Mole

Martin Herrenknecht becomes first European MoleThe Moles Award 2009 has gone to Dr Martin Herrenknecht for his extraordinary service to the heavy construction industry, and in particular for his ... More Information

Update your shows diary with tunnelbuilder!

Update your shows diary with tunnelbuilder!Our Professional Tunnellers Diary, accessed through the front page button above, is continuously updated. Right now you will find contact details for 28 ... More Information

SELI success in southeast Europe

SELI success in southeast EuropeItalian contractor SELI has been active in Turkey and Greece, with TBMs in the ground in both countries.In December 2008, SELI commissioned to ILCI the new 4.88 ... More Information

Thermal Ceramics wins Bjorvika fireproofing contract

Thermal Ceramics wins Bjorvika fireproof lining contractSome 675 m of the centre section of Bjorvika tunnel comprises six immersed tube elements containing three traffic lanes in each direction. ... More Information

Recession lessons (9)

Recession lessons (9)"After 21 years of experience in the design, production and commissioning of high-tech equipment, the expertise and know-how of our teams is recognized both on the national and ... More Information

Update on Australia and New Zealand

Update on Australia and New ZealandThe Brisbane Airport Link feasibility study has been completed, and a jv of Thiess, John Holland, Macquarie has been selected as preferred contractor. And the ... More Information

Tunnelling News

In pics: construction site of Chongming-Taicang tunnel

A smart assembling vehicle works at "Linghang" large diameter shield tunneling machine at the construction site of the Chongming-Taicang tunnel, part of the Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu ... More Information

IN PICTURES: Spectacular images of the removal of HS2's huge tunnelling machine

TBM Sushila was used to construct part of the Northolt Tunnel – an 8.4-mile tunnel ... construction/london-tunnels/progress-3/northolt-tunnel/tbm- ... More Information

Historic tunnels uncovered beneath Salisbury station during £5.3M upgrade project

Engineers from Network Rail and South Western Railway have uncovered a network of tunnels and rooms beneath Salisbury station during ongoing £5.3M upgrades to the station’s forecourt... More Information

Massive $450m road project connecting Russia and Georgia with six bridges & five tunnels

Massive $450m road project connecting Russia and Georgia with six bridges & five tunnels. The new road will pass through Georgia along a trade route ... More Information

Buca Metro Tunnel Excavations Reached 50 Percent Level

Important progress is being made in the construction of the line, where four tunnel boring machines (TBMs), each 100 meters long, 7 meters wide and ... More Information

'Very promising' narrow-reef boring technology nearing rollout stage

A novel tunnel boring machine (TBM) will open up Bokoni's narrow tabular dipping PGM orebody to allow narrow-reef boring to take place, so that ... More Information

A vast undersea tunnel is being built

The 7.4 billion-euro ($7.7 billion) project is a huge undertaking, in every sense. Each section of the tunnel is colossal. These concrete structures ... More Information

National Grid gets planning permission for Grain to Tilbury upgrade with new Thames tunnel

National Grid has secured full planning approval for the Grain to Tilbury project, which includes a new power tunnel under the River Thames... More Information

Right track tunnel of Huangjialing Tunnel in NW China's Gansu drilled through

A staff member works on the construction site of the right track tunnel of the Huangjialing Tunnel in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, northwest ... More Information

Shetland Islands tunnels plan takes 'huge step forward' with sonar investigations

This phase will further inform the project's development and feasibility. The tunnel project, seen by locals as pivotal for improving ... More Information

Construction of the Tarande tunnel begins next week

On March 17th, in Vilnius district Construction of a tunnel and other related infrastructure will begin at Taranda and Bukiškis. This project aims ... More Information

Delhi Metro's Golden Line achieves major tunnel breakthrough;

The construction of Delhi Metro's Golden Line achieved a major milestone on Thursday as the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) broke through at the ... More Information

RiverRenew Tunnel Project Nearing Completion

The RiverRenew Tunnel System Project, the largest infrastructure investment in Alexandria's history, is nearing completion. More Information

Sydney Metro West tunnels enter final stretch after big breakthrough

Two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) constructing the huge Sydney Metro West tunnels have made a smashing entrance 24 metres below the surface. More Information

Chennai Metro Rail launches first tunnel boring machine for underground tunnelling in Kolathur

Corridor 5 begins at Madhavaram Milk Colony and connects through Koyambedu, Porur, Alandur and other residential/commercial areas of the city to ... More Information

Element Six, Master Drilling Announce Tunnel Development Partnership

Element Six and Master Drilling will deliver a diamond-enabled solution designed to increase tunneling development speed, reducing costs and minimize the environmental impact of tunnel ... More Information

Gateway Project Tunnel Connecting NY and NJ Moves Forward

Five Gateway contracts have been awarded so far, including one on Predergast's first day for construction on the Manhattan side of the tunnel... More Information

HSR Xi'an – Yan'an: Completion of All Tunnels in the Project

The HSR Xi'an – Yan'an has completed the excavation of all tunnels, including the Tongchuan Tunnel. This is a key milestone in the construction ... More Information

Brazil's US$1bn underwater tunnel project making waves among potential bidders

The first underwater road tunnel project in Brazil is attracting interest from multiple potential bidders, an official familiar with the matter ... More Information

Element Six and Master Drilling Announce Strategic Partnership for Advanced Tunnel

Achieving high quality, nonexplosive tunnel construction with various aspects of value generated compared to traditional rock excavation methods is a ... More Information

Tutor Perini Wins a $1.2 Billion NYC Contract

A joint venture of Sylmar-based civil construction firm Tutor Perini Corp. and its subsidiary Frontier-Kemper Constructors has won a $1.18 billion contract to construct a pair of rail ... More Information

Milestone reached for $1.6b Auckland wastewater tunne

Watercare's Central Interceptor project has passed an historic milestone with the southern half of the 16.2 kilometre tunnel – Blockhouse Bay ... More Information

Elon Musk's 'Wormhole' Tunnel Promises To Carry 20,000 People Per Hour In Dubai

It’s been more than eight years since Elon Musk decided he was fed up with traffic and declared he’d start digging tunnels to revolutionize public transport across the United States. So ... More Information

First tender for Dubai’s $22bn tunnels due within days

Dubai Municipality is expected to tender the first two packages of the $22bn Dubai Strategic Sewerage Tunnels (DSST) project imminently... More Information

London's Thames Tideway Tunnel now fully connected

After 10 years of construction work, the last of the 21 connections of the Thames Tideway Tunnel was made to the city's Victorian sewage system. More Information

Silvertown Tunnel

Silvertown Tunnel is the Transport for London project looking to forge a brand-new connection between Silvertown and the Greenwich Peninsula... More Information

Dubai Loop: Elon Musk to Build Huge Underground Road Network

Musk's The Boring Company, which is responsible for building a similar project in Las Vegas, aims to create 17 kilometers of tunnel capable of ... More Information

Wisconsin approves $4.5m tunnel lighting project

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has approved a $4.5m lighting systems upgrade project in various tunnels in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. More Information

$1.18bn Manhattan Tunnel contract awarded as part of $16bn Hudson Tunnel Project

The Hudson Tunnel Project is the key section of the Gateway Programme, which is a comprehensive rail infrastructure investment aimed at boosting ... More Information

North East Link continues to forge ahead towards completion

Tunnelling will soon commence on Victoria's longest twin road tunnels – the North East Link tunnels – as two massive tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are ... More Information

Africa's huge £8.5m tunnel cuts up to 26 minutes off journeys to major capital city

The tunnel is to be constructed within the next three years. This project will not only create 500 jobs in the construction ... More Information

CMRL's tunnel boring machine from Panagal Park reaches Kodambakkam station after a year

Chennai Metro Rail's Phase II Project faces delays as tunnel boring machines 'Pelican' and 'Peacock' progress towards Kodambakkam... More Information

$800-million twin-tube tunnel, longest in the Philippines, nears 'breakthrough'

A senior agency official stated on Thursday that the tunneling phase of the Davao City Bypass Construction Project will achieve a long-awaited ... More Information

The World’s Largest Immersed Tunnel Is Being Built—And It’s Done Without a Tunnel Boring Machine

When we think about groundbreaking advancements, our minds often jump to cutting-edge technology like smartphones or supercomputers. But some of the most awe-inspiring innovations are ... More Information

Brenner Base TBM enters 'highly fractured' fault zone

A tunnel boring machine (TBM) working on the northernmost active construction lot of the Brenner Base Tunnel project has entered a “highly ... More Information

India building a historic Undersea Tunnel for Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train Project

He stated, "All high-quality safety norms have been adopted in the construction of this India's first carefully designed undersea tunnel project." The ... More Information

Norway's Incredible Ship Tunnel Plan Is Back On Track

Despite pandemic-related and planning delays to the project, the Norwegian Coastal Administration is pressing ahead with plans to build the world's ... More Information

PM Modi inaugurates Z-Morh tunnel in J&K

The tunnel works with the under-construction Zojila tunnel to enhance travel efficiency and road connectivity. NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra ... More Information

Metro's tunnel construction on track

Meanwhile, the 'Azad' TBM is already working on the 'up-line' tunnel for the same stretch. After arriving at Transport Nagar, both TBMs were 'dragged' ... More Information