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

Lovat TBM Breaks Through First LRT Extension Tunnel in Edmonton

Lovat TBM Breaks Through First LRT Extension Tunnel in EdmontonA Lovat EPB TBM broke through to the University LRT station on 8th November, completing the 293 m-long southbound tunnel of Edmonton's ... More Information

New leadership for Boart Longyear

New leadership for Boart LongyearPaul Brunner, managing director of Boart Longyear, has been appointed president and chief executive officer, effective January, 2004, to follow the retirement of ... More Information

Spanish Government Gives Go-Ahead to Huge Water Project

Spanish Government Gives Go-Ahead to Huge Water ProjectSpain's ministry of environment has approved on 31st October the Environmental Impact Statement for the controversial Ebro river transfer ... More Information

€70 Million to Rebuild Two High Speed Rail Tunnels

€70 Million to Rebuild Two High Speed Rail TunnelsThe Spanish Ministry of public works will spend €70 million -on top of the €54 million already spent- to rebuild the Montblanc and La Riba ... More Information

European Union to Strengthen Safety Rules for Road Tunnels

European Union to Strengthen Safety Rules for Road TunnelsThe transport ministers of the EU backed a directive proposal for stricter safety regulations in European tunnels, that were endorsed in a ... More Information

Weldgrip for one-stop ground and strata control

Weldgrip for one-stop ground and strata controlWeldgrip has a dedicated, purpose-built facility for the manufacture of machinery, tools and equipment for ground and strata control. Supplying a full ... More Information

Fourth Breakthrough at Lötschberg Base Tunnel

Fourth Breakthrough at Lötschberg Base TunnelAfter two years and four months, the Herrenknecht TBM which started working from Raron has completed on schedule a 10 km east tube section to the Ferden ... More Information

Hsueshan Tunnel Breaks Through

Hsueshan Tunnel Breaks ThroughTaiwan's President Chen Shui-bian, Premier Yu Shyi-kun, and Minister of transportation and communications Lin Ling-san attended the breakthrough by a Robbins TBM of the ... More Information

Hai Van Pass Tunnel Breaks Through

Hai Van Pass Tunnel Breaks ThroughA major breakthrough took place at the Hai Van tunnel on 28th October when workers on either side of the 6,247 m-long 11.9 m-wide tunnel met each other. Workers of ... More Information

First Robbins TBM for Karahnjukar - is/14

First Robbins TBM for Karahnjukar - is/14The Owner, the Consultant and Impregilo have signed off on delivery of the first of three Robbins TBMs for the Karahnjukar project in Iceland. The first TBM ... More Information

NFM Technologies to Supply Second TBM to Excavate Kazan's First Metro Line

NFM Technologies to Supply Second TBM to Excavate Kazan's First Metro LineKazmetrostroy, in charge of building Kazan's metro, has ordered a second hand TBM from NFM Technologies. This machine will ... More Information

US Department of Transport Publishes Recommendations for Bridge and Tunnel Safety

US Department of Transport Publishes Recommendations for Bridge and Tunnel SafetyThe Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has published a report stressing that tunnels and bridges in the United ... More Information

Consultant Wanted for Major Highway Tunnel

Consultant Wanted for Major Highway TunnelA well-qualified M & E control consultant is required for the twin-tube, 18 km-long Qinling Zhongnanshan, tunnel, currently under construction as ... More Information

Tunnelling Sub-Contractor Urgently Required

Tunnelling Sub-Contractor Urgently RequiredValecha Engineering has received a design work order to commence Udaipur city's Mansi Wakal water supply project near Dewas in India, value Rs165 million. ... More Information

King Juan Carlos Inaugurates Madrid to Lleida HSL

King Juan Carlos Inaugurates Madrid to Lleida HSLKing Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia inaugurated on 10th October the Madrid to Lleida high speed line during a inaugural trip which took four hours to ... More Information

Section of A86 Tunnel in Paris Breaks Through

Section of A86 Tunnel in Paris Breaks ThroughThe Herrenknecht TBM boring the east tunnel on the A86 motorway west of Paris broke through on 14th October the first section, named VL1 and 4.5 km in ... More Information

Herrenknecht TBM to Build Martignano Tunnel in South Tyrol

Herrenknecht TBM to Build Martignano Tunnel in South TyrolA Herrenknecht hard rock single shield TBM is arriving in pieces in Trento province, Italy to drive a twin tunnel on the 4 km Martignano ... More Information

European Commission Proposes New Projects and New Funds to Dynamise Europe

European Commission Proposes New Projects and New Funds to Dynamise EuropeThe European Commission proposed on 1st October adapting the guidelines for the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) to ... More Information

Antraquip for tunnel excavation, support and specialist plant services

Antraquip for tunnel excavation, support and specialist plant servicesAntraquip Corporation offers a wide range of plant and equipment expertise in the supply, refurbishment and rebuilding of ... More Information

Dataline Tunnelling 2003 Event in Madrid

Dateline Tunnelling 2003 Event in MadridTo highlight the booming civil engineering sector, and more particularly tunnelling both at Spanish and international levels, IIR Spain organises on 28th-30th ... More Information

Code of Practice for Risk Management of Tunnel Works

Code of Practice for Risk Management of Tunnel Works The BTS has published a joint code of practice agreed with British insurers designed to promote and secure best practice for the minimization and ... More Information

Read All About It!

Read All About It!E-News Weekly from tunnelbuilder is the only weekly tunnelling market intelligence e-newsletter available from any source. This week, issue No 93 describes the punishment meted out ... More Information

World's Deepest Underground Station Mooted at Gotthard

World's Deepest Underground Station Mooted at GotthardPlans are afoot to build the world's deepest underground railway station in Switzerland, nearly one kilometre below the surface. The "Porta ... More Information

Tests to Better Understand Fire Propagation in Tunnels

Tests to Better Understand Fire Propagation in TunnelsIn recent years a number of road tunnels fires have occurred throughout Europe with catastrophic outcome. Among these are the fire in the Mont ... More Information

Second TBM Start for Line 9 in Barcelona

Second TBM Start for Line 9 in BarcelonaLlobri, this is the name of the second TBM that will drive the 44 km metro line 9 in Barcelona. The machine started to tunnel the new line between the Gorg ... More Information

Putzmeister Concrete Pumps for Lötschberg Base Tunnel

Putzmeister Concrete Pumps for Lötschberg Base TunnelPutzmeister concrete pumps and concrete wet spray machines are being used on several contract sections of the Lötschberg. Consortium Satco is ... More Information

Welcome to the Future!

Welcome to the Future!tunnelbuilder.com front page has undergone a substantial revision this week, as part of a complete upgrade of our operating software. Page presentation is now database-driven, ... More Information

Four Road Headers Now Work on Cross City Tunnel in Sydney

Four Road Headers Now Work on Cross City Tunnel in SydneyFour roadheaders are now tunnelling underneath Sydney to build the Cross City Tunnel (CCT). Since the first machine started work on 19th May, ... More Information

Dateline Underground Construction 2003

Dateline Underground Construction 2003It's high time to make travel plans for the UC 2003 conference and exhibition, which takes place at ExCeL, London on 24-25th September. ExCeL is at the old ... More Information

Busy Time for Robbins

Busy Time for RobbinsIn the US, the first of two Robbins TBMs has started on the 14km long Nancy Creek sewer tunnel in Atlanta, GA, while a Robbins 5.6 m-diameter hard rock machine at Chicago TARP ... More Information

Geokon - world-class geotechnical instrumentation

Geokon - world-class geotechnical instrumentationGeokon is the most successful designer and manufacturer of vibrating wire geotechnical instrumentation, with a line of products that is unsurpassed ... More Information

Spanish Tunnellers Rescued from Guadarrama Tunnel

Spanish Tunnellers Rescued from Guadarrama TunnelThirty-four workers have been rescued after being trapped by fire for five hours on 6th August in the Guadarrama railway tunnel under construction on ... More Information

New Concept in Lighting Control from Mayer

New Concept in Lighting Control from MayerMayer International (UK) Ltd has introduced an advanced new concept in automated light switching technology for road tunnels. Known as System-1600, it ... More Information

Muck Cars Designed by CSM Bessac Receive Innovation Award

Muck Cars Designed by CSM Bessac Receive Innovation AwardThe Roll and Rock process designed by CSM Bessac, a small-to-midsize TBM maker based near Toulouse, France has received a French construction ... More Information

Wirth Completes Shaft II in Sedrun for Gotthard Base Tunnel in Record Time

Wirth Completes Shaft II in Sedrun for Gotthard Base Tunnel in Record TimeThe breakthrough by a Wirth shaft boring machine of the tunnel floor level on 23rd June, 2003 marked another milestone at ... More Information

Crossrail Gets Green Light

Crossrail Gets Green LightThe UK government has given the go-ahead for the £10 billion Crossrail project that will link east and west London. But transport Secretary Alistair Darling has again ... More Information

Tunnelling News

Bhopal Metro's Orange Line Tunnelling Begins

The Bhopal Metro project has recently reached an important milestone as tunnel boring machines (TBMs) have been positioned to begin digging work on ... More Information

A Chinese team rescued a $50M tunnel machine stuck 177 feet underground

Chinese engineers have pulled off a stunning rescue, saving a tunnel boring machine (TBM) stuck 177 feet underground beneath the Yangtze River. More Information

Fort Smith named finalist in Elon Musk's Boring Company tunnel challenge

The company selected Fort Smith's proposal from 487 applicants. The company says the winning project will receive construction of a one-mile tunnel ... More Information

Bengaluru: Four infrastructure firms bid for Hebbal short tunnel

Bengaluru infrastructure: Four firms, including Dilip Buildcon and Max Infra, bid for BDA's Rs 1086 crore Hebbal short tunnel project... More Information

TBM readied for Montreal's Blue Line extension

A custom-made 9.7m-diameter tunnel boring machine (TBM) has been assembled and lowered ready to excavate the tube from the future Vertières stop to ... More Information

$11.5B Brenner Base Tunnel Nears End of TBM Excavation

With TBMs Olga and Wilma closing in, the 55-km rail project shifts from excavation to systems integration ahead of its planned 2028 opening beneath ... More Information

$6.75 Billion Unlocked for Turkey's Bosphorus Rail Project

Multiple Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) will need to be mobilized to carve out the subterranean corridors leading up to ... More Information

Tunneling for Nashville's underground Tesla project has begun

The Boring Company said that the first three weeks of the project will consist of the Prufrock-MB1, a machine that will help carve out the tunnel, ... More Information

Hudson Tunnel Project construction resumes

I look forward to celebrating the launch of our tunnel boring machines through the Palisades once GDC has assurance it will receive the steady flow ... More Information

Lower Thames Crossing

British suppliers could meet 90% of low carbon steel requirements. The proposed machine would be 16.4m in diameter, large enough to create a three‑lane tunnel bore, and is intended to dig ... More Information

Inside the Tunnel Boring Machine, Southampton Link Main project

A six-tonne tunnel boring machine is digging deep below the ground in Hampshire to help keep the county's taps and rivers flowing... More Information

TBM maestro inspects sites ahead of massive tunnel drive

The first machine components have arrived for the tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to be deployed on the Suburban Connect sites in Melbourne. More Information

Metrolinx provides major updates on subway and LRT projects across the GTA

Tunnel boring is advancing on multiple projects, with Scarborough's TBM ... Metrolinx says “Diggy Scardust,” the project's tunnel boring machine, is now ... More Information

Work in Progress: High-tech TBMs ready to carve underground corridor

The Bhopal Metro Rail Project is transitioning into its most challenging and sophisticated phase as two state-of-the-art Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) ... More Information

Sarens helps extract TBM at BC water supply project

The Annacis Water Supply Tunnel Project aims to increase the reliability and capacity of the water supply system in New Westminster, British Columbia. When complete, the tunnel will ... More Information

Judge rules in favor of New York and New Jersey for now in $16B tunnel fight with Trump

A federal judge ruled Friday to temporarily block the Trump administration from suspending federal disbursements for the Gateway Tunnel Project... More Information

Webuild: award for Sustainability Report for commitment to decarbonise through innovation

This includes the large tunnel-boring machines deployed on some of Europe's most complex projects: from the Salerno-Reggio Calabria ... More Information

Clearwater update reports initial entry area is 'stable and intact'

The tunnel boring machine being used in the project remains trapped underground just ahead of where the breach occurred. The ambitious, $630 ... More Information

Tunnel Boring Machine Market Size estimated at USD 7.08 Billion

The Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) market is experiencing significant growth, driven by increasing urbanization, infrastructure development, ... More Information

Completing the First Section of Line 3: Tunnel Boring Machine Roars as it Emerges at Balboa

The Panama tunnel boring machine emerged and completed its first major task: the first section of the Line 3 Metro tunnel. More Information

Twin tunnel-boring titans prepare to dig new road under Sydney Harbour

Twin tunnel-boring titans are preparing to launch under Sydney Harbour to dig out a new road crossing from Birchgrove to Waverton... More Information

Monica Breaks Ground on Snowy 2.0

Monica the tunnel boring machine, with the renewable energy mega-project now more. TBM Monica is among the world's most advanced tunnel boring machines... More Information

Snowy 2.0 sets new tunnel boring machine to work, completes 46 underground concrete pours

Snowy 2.0 has set to work a fourth tunnel boring machine, a $75 million piece of drilling equipment purpose built to complete excavation of the huge pumped hydro project’s “geologically ... More Information

World's 'largest' underground assembly of tunnelling machines happening beneath Sydney

Workers are craning into place about 167 major pieces that will form the first of two giant boring machines. Once assembled like giant Meccano sets, ... More Information

Tunneling Begins on Major Water Pipeline for South Hillsborough

TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Water has begun construction on a major underground pipeline project aimed at meeting rising water demand in southern Hillsborough County, where population growth ... More Information

The massive £3billion tunnel designed to connect two continents under the sea

The construction of a huge underwater multi-tiered tunnel is underway in Turkey, that will create a direct route from Asia to Europe - and is expected to carry 1.3 million passengers a ... More Information

Riederwald Tunnel in Frankfurt is further delayed

Traffic was supposed to start flowing through the controversial Riederwald Tunnel in Frankfurt in 2033. But that's unlikely to happen. The €1.5 billion project is facing further delays – ... More Information

What happens to our metro tunnel boring machines when they hit the end of the line?

These mechanical behemoths were Betty and Dorothy, the tunnel boring machines tasked with digging the Sydney Metro West tunnels. Loading. The ... More Information

The incredible £2.8bn underwater tunnel connecting Europe and Asia

A huge new tunnel will connect Europe and Asia - and construction has already started. The Great Istanbul Tunnel is a major project. It will carry ... More Information

China develops "smart brain" for tunnel boring machines to boost underground construction

A team from Hunan University in central China has collaboratively developed an intelligent operating system for tunnel boring machines, giving these massive underground giants a "smart ... More Information

How China rescued highway project under Yangtze River

The incident occurred in February 2023 during construction of the 6.4-kilometer Jiangyin–Jingjiang Yangtze River Tunnel. Midway through excavation, at ... More Information

HS2 final tunnel drive to Euston starts next week

A team from SCS will drive a 4.5-mile twin-bore tunnel linking Old Oak Common to Euston using two tunnel boring machines, Karen and Madeleine. More Information

Work begins on £48M Knutsford sewer upgrade featuring 1.8km stormwater tunnel

Sean Reid, United Utilities county business lead for wastewater in Cheshire said: “This project highlights our ongoing commitment to improving water ... More Information

$14.6M boost moves Gering–Fort Laramie Canal Tunnel project forward

After nearly six years of planning, construction is moving forward on the Gering–Fort Laramie Canal tunnels... More Information

Webuild: second breakthrough at Trebisacce Tunnel along Jonica State Road 106

Project will help transform Jonica State Road 106 into a strategic corridor linking Ionian coasts of Calabria, Basilicata and Puglia... More Information

Ground preparation for Lower Thames Crossing tunnelling

Work is ongoing to overcome sub-optimal ground conditions in preparation for the start of tunnelling on the Lower Thames Crossing in late 2028, according to the project’s tunnels director... More Information

LA Metro approves massive $25B underground rail line to bypass 405 Freeway

The LA Metro Board unanimously approved an underground heavy rail line to connect the San Fernando Valley and the Westside, bypassing the congested 405 Freeway. The nearly 13-mile route, ... More Information

TUNNEL VISION Mega £7.4bn undersea tunnel connecting two CONTINENTS just got one step closer

A MAJOR £7.4 billion underwater tunnel connecting two continents has taken a step closer to construction. Experts have said the 24-mile tunnel is “technically viable”, paving the way for ... More Information

TBM breakthrough in Sydney

Tunnel boring machine (TBM) Jane Starkey successfully completed her 1.2km underground journey through challenging Sydney sandstone... More Information