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

Robbins and iPS Webinar – 30th October 2019 - Rescuing and Refurbishing TBMs

Robbins and iPS Webinar  – 30th October 2019 - Rescuing and Refurbishing TBMs

Webinar Summary - Detlef Jordan, Robbins and Barrie Willis, iPS -  TBM maintenance: it’s one of the most important factors predicting project success, but it is often treated ... More Information

Strata Worldwide launches DigitalBRIDGE Plus+

Strata Worldwide launches DigitalBRIDGE Plus+

Strata Worldwide has launched a new leaky feeder solution for underground construction. The DigitalBRIDGE Plus+ delivers powerful, high-speed Ethernet and a full spectrum of VHF radio frequencies ... More Information

And they’re off: Hinkley Point C reaches another key milestone

The Hinkley Point C project has reached another key milestone with the start of tunnelling at the UKs first new nuclear power station in a generation. Work has started to install the 38,000 ... More Information

Grand Paris Express update

Grand Paris Express update

On Saturday 14th September, 2019 at the Braque pit site in Aulnay-sous-Bois the first TBM for the Grand Paris express was christened. The TBM was named Armelle after Armelle Martin who saved a ... More Information

ITA TUNNELLING AND UNDERGROUND SPACE AWARDS - FOUR FINALISTS FOR THE MAJOR PROJECT OF THE YEAR

ITA TUNNELLING AND UNDERGROUND SPACE AWARDS -  FOUR FINALISTS FOR THE MAJOR PROJECT OF THE YEAR

Four finalists have been announced for the major project of the year category which focusses on ‘Managing Urban Expansion’. The awards will be held in Miami, USA from the 18th to the ... More Information

Penang Undersea Tunnel updates

Penang is planning a massive transportation network that includes four highways, an eight-lane highway in the Persiaran Gurney, a light-rail transit (LRT) and an undersea tunnel. The ... More Information

Mapei Underground Technology Team

Mapei Underground Technology Team

Mapei's response to the growing demand from the construction market was to create their Underground Technology Team and product line. The Underground Technology Team (UTT), is dedicated ... More Information

The UK’s newest skills academy finally opens its doors

The UK’s newest skills academy finally opens its doors

 A pioneering civil engineering skills academy unlike anything else in the North East has been officially opened in Hartlepool.   The new skills academy from Seymour Civil ... More Information

Heung Yuen Wai Highway - Hong Kong

Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, is proud to have contributed engineering excellence to the Heung Yuen Wai Highway in Hong Kong. The major transport infrastructure project will promote ... More Information

Federal Funding Allocation for BART Silicon Valley Phase II project

Federal Funding Allocation for BART Silicon Valley Phase II project

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) allocated EUR113.15 million (USD125 million) to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) for the Bay ... More Information

Victorian Tunnelling Centre

Victorian Tunnelling Centre

An Australian-first tunnelling training centre will open next year in Oakleigh. The centre will train thousands of local workers to deliver tunnel projects in Victoria - including the Metro ... More Information

ExpoFerroviaria 2019

ExpoFerroviaria 2019

Its less than a month to go before the next edition of EXPO Ferroviaria in Italy. The EXPO will take place from the 1st to the 3rd of October at Rho Fiera in Milan.  The event is for the ... More Information

Forrestfield-Airport Link - TBMs Grace and Sandy completed 70% per cent of tunnelling.

TBM Grace has now tunnelled more than 5.6km and installed more than 3300 rings, on her journey to Bayswater. Grace is now tunnelling in Ascot - underneath the Tonkin Highway road reserve and is ... More Information

Final pieces in place for West Gate TBM

Final pieces in place for West Gate TBM

The final parts of the TBM Bella, the largest in the southern hemisphere have been lifted into place to start digging the West Gate Tunnel in Melbourne. The 450-t cutterhead has been lowered 27 m ... More Information

Another breakthrough for Sydney Metro’s mega borers

Another breakthrough for Sydney Metro’s mega borers

A second mega boring machine has arrived deep under the Sydney central business district at the new Pitt Street metro railway station. Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Mum Shirl started digging from ... More Information

Tunnel Boring Machines in Difficult Grounds 4th International Conference

Tunnel Boring Machines in Difficult Grounds 4th International Conference

The TBM DiGs conference will be held from November 13th  – 15th , 2019 in Golden, Colorado USA. TBM DiGs is an international conference series that provides a specialized technological ... More Information

Bekaert Maccaferri Underground Solutions - Synmix® HP 55

Bekaert Maccaferri Underground Solutions - Synmix® HP 55

WHAT IS SYNMIX® HP?  - Synmix® macro synthetic fibres, from industry specialist Bekaert, have set a new standard for safety reinforcement with their light weight, easy to handle ... More Information

Senior Tunnel Engineer Dominic Reda Presenting at the 12th Annual Breakthroughs in Tunneling Short Course in Denver, Colorado

GALL ZEIDLER Consultants,  Senior Tunnel Engineer Dominic Reda will be presenting at the 12th Annual Breakthroughs in Tunneling Short Course in Denver, Colorado September 9th – 11th . ... More Information

Jinan Yellow River Tunnel Project

In September, 2019 China started the shield excavation of the Jinan Yellow River Tunnel, known as the "first” tunnel of the Wanli Yellow River according to the China Railway Construction ... More Information

Press release - Small Robbins Double Shield makes a Monumental Achievement

Press release -   Small Robbins Double Shield makes a Monumental Achievement

Compact TBM bores longest Rock Tunnel at 2.46 m Diameter In August 2019, a small diameter Double Shield TBM made a big impact. The 2.46 m (8.07 ft) diameter Robbins machine completed 3,475 m ... More Information

North East Link public hearing update

The Public Hearing for the North East Link Environment Effects Statement (EES) which began on the 25th July will reach its conclusion in mid – September 2019. Any individual and any groups ... More Information

Strengthened Financial Plan for Hudson Tunnel Project Trims USD1.4 Billion

Strengthened Financial Plan for Hudson Tunnel Project Trims USD1.4 Billion

In June 2019 the Gateway Development Commission became a bi-state organization, with new authority and ability to receive the federal grants and loans necessary to deliver the Gateway Program of ... More Information

Line 4 Metro Bucharest - Preliminary design update

Line 4 Metro Bucharest - Preliminary design update

The Feasibility Study and Preliminary Design  for the Lac Straulesti – Gara Progresu Metro Line 4/Green Line extension in Bucharest has been completed. Metrorex the operator of the ... More Information

ICE learning programme gains US accreditation

ICE is pleased to announce its first learning programme which has been accredited for US Professional Development Hours (PDH).   This programme, located on the ICE Learning Hub, has been ... More Information

Albvorlandtunnel: TBM Sibylle arrives in Wendlingen

Albvorlandtunnel: TBM Sibylle arrives in Wendlingen

On August 11th 2019 TBM Sibylle the first of two TBMs involved in the construction of the Albvorland tunnel, completed  7,700 m of the northern tube  after only 18 months. The Albvorland ... More Information

Sydney Metro update

Sydney Metro update

On August the 16th TBM Nancy broke through a wall of rock at the site of the future Pitt Street Station, about 20m below the heart of Sydney’s CBD. Nancy had clocked up 6km of tunnelling ... More Information

TERRATEC TBM completes first tunnel for Mumbai Metro

TERRATEC TBM completes first tunnel for Mumbai Metro

HCC-MMS JV achieves major milestone with Terratec machine having broken through on the first full section of running tunnel to be completed for Mumbai Metro Line 3, in India. In early-August, ... More Information

8th Cutting Edge Conference

8th Cutting Edge Conference

From the East to the West Coast, North America’s tunnelling industry is flourishing. In 2019, the eighth annual Cutting Edge Conference will be held in Hilton Miami Downtown, Florida from ... More Information

Mumbai Metro Line 3 renamed as Aqua Line

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday unveiled the rolling stock model of Metro Line 3, which has been named AquaLine. The MMRC (Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation) has awarded the ... More Information

Blog by Steve Smading – The Robbins Company

Blog by Steve Smading – The Robbins Company

3 Ways to Bore More Efficiently in Extremely Hard Rock: Maximize your TBM Advance through Minimized Downtime When the rock seems unbreakable, stresses are multiplied: The cutters must be stronger, ... More Information

Russia - Moscow Underground updates

Russia - Moscow Underground updates

Extension of the Kommunarskaya Line On 20 August, at the meeting of the Urban Planning Commission, the project for the extension of the Kommunarskaya line of the Moscow metro to the city of Troitsk ... More Information

Tunnel under Monte Tondo in Bolzano, Italy

On the 21st of August a summit to establish the next steps for the construction of the 2.5km road tunnel under Monte Tondo was held. The interested parties were the Municipality, the Province of ... More Information

EnigmaCG’s 5th Annual Conference on Innovation in Tunnels: Construction, Maintenance, Safety & Fire Protection

EnigmaCG’s 5th Annual Conference on Innovation in Tunnels: Construction, Maintenance, Safety & Fire Protection

With over 55 live tenders for construction/development of new tunnels in just Spain, Switzerland, Italy and Belgium at the time of writing this, it is safe to say that tunnel construction/ ... More Information

Delaware Aqueduct Bypass Tunnel breakthrough

A Tunnel boring machine built by the Robbins company “holed through” Tuesday morning, breaking through shale bedrock in Dutchess County to complete its excavation on the $1 billion ... More Information

The ITA Tunnelling Awards Shortlist 2019

The ITA Tunnelling Awards Shortlist 2019

Press release - The 17-strong expert judging panel, chaired by the ITA President Jinxiu (Jenny) Yan, has concluded its deliberations and based on detailed evaluation, 32 entries have been chosen ... More Information

Short courses on tunnelling - Nepal

Short courses on tunnelling - Nepal

Dr. Manoj Verman, President of a new ISRM Commission on Hard Rock Excavation, will be the speaker for two short courses on tunnelling to be held at the Radisson Blu, Kathmandu, Nepal from the ... More Information

Tunnelling News

East West Rail between Bedford and Cambridge to include new tunnels

15 November, 2024 By Thames Menteth Revised proposals for the East West Rail scheme’s section between Bedford and Cambridge include a new section of railway, as well as new stations and ... More Information

Amtrak's $1.6B East River Tunnel Rehab Work Contractors Get Notice to Proceed

Amtrak's $1.6-billion East River Tunnel Rehabilitation Project in New York is advancing after construction manager STV Inc./Naik Consulting Group ... More Information

Tunnel Boring Machine for National Grid's VIP project in Eryri set to arrive in North Wales

National Grid is reaching a major milestone on the Eryri Visual Impact Provision (VIP) scheme with the arrival of its Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) to ... More Information

Tunnel boring machine hits major milestone on Snowy 2.0 project

The Snowy 2.0 pumped-hydro megaproject recently marked a significant milestone, with one of three tunnel boring machines (TBM), Lady Eileen Hudson ... More Information

Morocco-Spain Underwater Tunnel Plans Move Forward with Renewed Focus

Discover the ambitious Morocco-Spain Underwater Tunnel project, set to connect continents in under 30 minutes and revolutionize travel between ... More Information

Alaska Transportation Department to spend $1 million on Knik Arm tunnel study

The results of the feasibility study will give us a better picture of how the project could be constructed, potential costs, and financing options,” ... More Information

Extra tunnels included in £6bn East West Rail scheme

Bowing to pressure to reduce the project's environmental impact two tunnels are now proposed for the new stretch of railway in Cambridgeshire. Design ... More Information

Balfour Beatty VINCI reaches halfway point on key HS2 'green tunnel'

As well as Burton Green, green tunnels will be constructed at Copthall in Hillingdon, Wendover in Buckinghamshire and Chipping Warden and Greatworth, ... More Information

Webuild-led consortium confirmed for US$1.1 billion tunnelling work

Webuild-led consortium confirmed for US$1.1 billion tunnelling work (US$1.1 billion) tunnelling package on the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) East public transport project to a consortium of ... More Information

Balfour Beatty snares $746M I-35 rebuild in Texas

The London-based contractor will reconstruct 2.5 miles of the highway through downtown Austin and build a link to the future light rail line. AECOM-Jacobs JV signs on to $6B Amtrak tunnel ... More Information

Metro Vancouver digs water tunnel designed to withstand 'the big one' under Fraser River

Crews have begun construction on a new $450-million water supply tunnel between New Westminster and Surrey designed to withstand a major earthquake. More Information

Longest tunnel in Poland begins construction

The project, managed by the Polish company Budimex and Turkish Gülermak, includes 10 viaducts and 12 bridges. This unprecedented investment will ... More Information

Watercare Passes Key Milestone On $300M Programme To Improve Wastewater Services

Watercare and McConnell Dowell celebrate Piper's final breakthrough. On Sunday (subs note: November 10), Piper – a tunnel-boring machine – completed ... More Information

Tutor Perini Scores Contracts

The tunnel project includes the construction of two new shafts connecting to the surface and the use of a tunnel boring machine. The completed ... More Information

Bengaluru Metro completes tunnelling for longest underground line

The final breakthrough came from Bhadra, the last Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) deployed, which completed a 937-meter stretch from K G Halli to Nagawara ... More Information

Eastern Freeway Upgrade preferred bidders confirmed

Tunnel boring is currently underway on the North East Link project, with machines currently digging under Yallambie. Federal Minister for ... More Information

Bengaluru civic body completes DPR for 18-km underground tunnel road network

Designed to ease Bengaluru's notorious traffic congestions, the project will deploy six massive Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) with a diameter of 14.7 ... More Information

Frontier-Kemper Awarded $1.1 Billion Kensico-Eastview Connection Tunnel Project

Frontier-Kemper Awarded $1.1 Billion Kensico-Eastview Connection Tunnel Project for New York City Department of Environmental Protection... More Information

Assam's first underwater tunnel: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma says DPR nears completion

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Gohpur-Numaligarh tunnel project is almost ... More Information

The Tunnel Vision: A look at California's $20B plan to solve to the state's water crisis

Minassian describes the process, locations and implications of the operation using four tunnel boring machines. READ STORY | HEAR PODCAST. PART 3 ... More Information

Ruby deployed for final Metro West tunnel beneath Sydney Harbour

Tunnel boring machine (TBM) Ruby has begun carving out the final section of tunnel for the Sydney Metro West project. More Information

Photos: Inside the $250 Million Tunnel Being Constructed Under Columbus

Located at an average depth of 50 feet underground, the 12-foot-diameter tunnel has been under construction since early 2021. By the time it is ... More Information

Tideway: £4.5bn ‘super sewer’ begins to protect Thames as first 4 sites activated

The Thames Tideway Tunnel has commenced operation as the first four of 21 sites have been switched on. This means that, after eight years of construction, the 25km £4.5bn “super sewer” has ... More Information

Lowest bidder emerges for Dubai Metro Blue line

Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) opened bids from contractors for the contract to design and build Dubai Metro’s Blue Line on 8 October. The group of China Tiesiju Civil ... More Information

Sanya River estuary passage project makes steady progress

A drone photo shows the construction site of the Sanya River estuary passage project in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Oct. 12, 2024. The Sanya River estuary passage project ... More Information

Mumbai Metro 3: Breaking Ground, Defying Odds

Two tunnels for the 33.5-km corridor (Colaba to Aarey), totalling 55 km, were carved out, using 17 Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs). Certain sections ... More Information

VIDEO: Drone fly through inside new HRBT tunnel

We can't fly you to the moon, but we can fly you through the new #HRBTExpansion tunnel. Drone video gives you a quick glimpse into the... More Information

Skanska receives Innovate UK funding to accelerate decarbonisation of concrete

Our Skanska Costain STRABAG JV has secured funding to trial repurposed London Clay as a low carbon alternative to cement... More Information

Longest Tunnel in the World Entering Final Phase Underneath Newburgh

Repair Plans for the Delaware Aqueduct in Wawarsing and Newburgh, NY. The plan for repairs involved the construction of a 2.5 mile bypass tunnel ... More Information

Two TBM's break through

Two TBM's break through. Joshua Farrell ... tunnelling segments to line the new tunnel walls. Work inside the ... More Information

Texas A&M eyes Elon Musk's Boring Company for tunnel system

A&M officials have conducted a feasibility study with positive results, but they have yet to talk with Musk about the project, Chief Operating Officer ... More Information

Construction Begins on £1.8bn Underwater Tunnel Under Panama Canal

The tunnel is part of Panama's Metro Line 3 monorail project, designed to ease traffic congestion in the metropolitan area. tunnel boring machine... More Information

Webuild at work on the massive railway tunnel at the heart of the Northeast Corridor

After years of planning, the Hudson Tunnel Project (HTP) to improve the railway connection between New York and New Jersey has begun. The first drilling contract for the tunnels, part of ... More Information

TfL Awards Contract for Elephant & Castle Tube Station Upgrade

Transport for London (TfL) has selected Dragados UK to design and construct new passenger tunnels at Elephant & Castle Tube station. These tunnels will connect the new station box to the ... More Information

More than 10 years of transformational tunnelling

More than 23,000 workers, 11 tunnel boring machines (TBMs) and an army of roadheaders and excavators are what it has taken for CPB Contractors to construct more than 80 kilometres of ... More Information

Ivy – the Newest Member of the DEME Marine Fleet on the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel Project

DEME have introduced “Ivy”, the newest member of their marine fleet for the Fehmarnbelt tunnel project! Specifically designed for the transport and immersion of the project’s 89 massive ... More Information

Double down: SA’s groundbreaking purchase

Up to twice the number of Tunnel Boring Machines previously anticipated will be delivered to South Australia for the landmark River Torrens to Darlington (T2D) Project, giving hope the ... More Information

CRL Tunnel Vision September 2024

This month in Tunnel Vision we’re celebrating Te Wiki o te Reo Māori! It’s been a busy month on the CRL fitting out the stations with all the technical systems needed to run and revealing ... More Information

Siddhababa tunnel achieves key breakthroughs.

The first and third cross passages of the Siddhababa Tunnel Project on the Siddhartha Highway have achieved breakthroughs. Construction of two of ... More Information