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

Putzmeister at Expomina, Peru

Expomina 2014 takes place in Lima, Peru on 10-12th September. Putzmeister will be there on Stand E01 showing its 5 cu m capacity Mixkret 5 mixer/carrier designed for underground applications. Read ... More Information

City Rail Link update

City Rail Link update

New Zealand’s City Rail Link (CRL) will be built in two 3.4 km-long, twin tunnels up to 42 m below the city centre of Auckland. It will extend the existing rail line underground through ... More Information

Palermo railway ring

Palermo railway ring

On 23.07.2014 Tecnis SpA (Catania) began work on Lot 1 of the railway ring in Palermo. Value of the project is EUR152 million, with EUR28 million coming from EU funds. The Giachery-Politeama section ... More Information

Palermo-Messina progress

On 17.07.2014 breakout was achieved at the Palermo end of the 4,127 m-long Monte Poggio Maria tunnel, part of the dualling of the 19.7 km Fiumetorto-Cefalu Ogliastrillo section on the ... More Information

Power your business with tunnelbuilder

As the good times start to roll again in the US and Europe, tunnelbuilder readership is growing rapidly, currently averaging 71,493 visits/month for 2014. Our weekly newsletter garners 10,666 ... More Information

Atkins to lead Doha metro

UK-based design, engineering and consulting firm WS Atkins has been awarded the EUR100 million contract as lead designer for Doha metro Gold Line in Qatar. Visit ... More Information

Top award for Lok Home of Robbins

Once a year, the Underground Construction Association honours a person who has made major contributions to the tunnelling industry throughout their career. Lok Home is the exceptionally deserving ... More Information

Merano northwest bypass

Merano northwest bypass

On 22.07.2014 Bozen Province in Italy approved the definitive alignment of Merano northwest bypass – Lot 2. Tender is expected in 2016, start of work in 2017. Lot 2 will be mainly underground ... More Information

Rishikesh-Karanprayag railway

RNVL is implementing the 125.09 km-long rail project in the Garhwal region in Uttarakhand with a preliminary cost of EUR530 million. The rail project passes through Dehradun, Tehri, Pauri and ... More Information

Breakthrough at the Kargi HEPP

A Robbins double shield TBM broke through on 05.07.2014 in Turkey at the Kargi HEPP. The machine made it through fault zones and squeezing ground, ultimately excavating over 700 m/month. Click ... More Information

First Northgate Link TBM launches

The first of two TBMs that will dig new twin light rail tunnels from the Northgate neighbourhood in Seattle to the University of Washington began mining on 09.07.2014.  The TBM will mine ... More Information

Basel east ring road, new variant

Basel east ring road, new variant

The Federal Roads Office has drawn up, and discussed with the cantons, a new variant involving the construction of a tunnel under the Rhine between Birsfelden and the North Ring Road branch Wiese to ... More Information

WTC2015 – Deadline Abstracts

WTC 2015 will take place on May 22-28, 2015 at Lacroma Valamar Congress Center, Dubrovnik, Croatia. Deadline for abstract submission: July 31, 2014. Visit http://wtc15.com/forms/call-for-papers. ... More Information

Terratec micro impresses

Terratec micro impresses

A Terratec MTBM working in Bangkok, Thailand has completed a 380 m-long drive of 1.8 m-ID pipejacked tunnel in just 23 days. Key to this successful operation was the high performance of the ... More Information

Australasian conference papers

The 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference entitled “Underground Space – Solutions for the Future” takes place in Sydney on 17-19th September, 2014. Click here for online ... More Information

New products from Condat

New products from Condat

French manufacturer Condat supplies a complete range of self-extinguishing lubricants to the tunnelling industry that includes Tail Seal Greases, Main Bearing Lubrication & Protection ... More Information

Fairbank-Silverthorn Prequalification

Fairbank-Silverthorn Prequalification

City of Toronto, Canada has posted information for potential prequalifiers for the upcoming design-build Fairbank-Silverthorn Trunk Storm Sewer System project for which an RFP is expected to be ... More Information

DTL2 metro tunnels completed

On 11.06.2014 McConnell Dowell completed excavation on the 1,395 m-long twin metro tunnel from King Albert Park (KAP) to Sixth Avenue (SAV) station for DTL2 in Singapore (contract C917A). The TBM ... More Information

Thomson Line underway

Thomson Line underway

On 27.06.2014 construction of the 30 km-long Thomson Line (TSL) got underway. The new underground rail line, which will connect the northern part of Singapore to the Central Business District (CBD) ... More Information

ExpoTunnel 2014

ExpoTunnel 2014

The second edition of ExpoTunnel will take place in Bologna-Italy on October 23-25, 2014 at BolognaFiere Hall 19. The deadline for early booking of stands at favourable rates is end-June. Visit ... More Information

North West Rail Link update

North West Rail Link update

The NSW Government has announced that the Northwest Rapid Transit consortium has been selected as the preferred operator to deliver the project’s operations contract. Click au/11. The first of ... More Information

SR 99 TBM repairs

On 16.06.2014 Seattle Tunnel Partners, the Washington State Department of Transportation’s design-build contractor for the SR 99 Tunnel Project illustrated a new repair work plan for TBM ... More Information

Finale for Twin Robbins EPBs

The second Robbins EPB broke through on 11.06.2014, marking the completion of twin tunnels at San Francisco’s Central Subway in California, USA. The first of the two machines holed through a ... More Information

New projects for CBE

CBE Group has signed new contracts for a total of 256 moulds for tunnelling projects around the world. Read the press release and visit www.cbe-tunnels.com. 26/14. More Information

Kiepe sponsors tunnelbuilder.it

Kiepe sponsors tunnelbuilder.it

Kiepe Electric provides solutions for fire protection in road, rail and subway tunnels as well as in industrial and marine sectors. More Information

Robbins at NAT

The Robbins Company will present a series of lectures on high power TBMs on Tuesday 24.06.2014 at NAT in Los Angeles. Read the press release and visit the company at booth 425 or at ... More Information

Bucharest subway approved

The European Commission has approved a EUR409.5 million investment from the Regional Development Fund (FEDR) for Romania's Eroilor-Drumul Taberei subway route currently in development. The new line ... More Information

Twelfth party for Robbins TBM

Twelfth party for Robbins TBM

The breakthrough of a veteran Robbins hardrock TBM on 19.05.2014 at the Lemay Redundant Force Main in St. Louis, MO was its twelfth in over 40 km of rock, since its manufacture in 1981. The TBM, ... More Information

New products from Condat

New products from Condat

French manufacturer Condat supplies a complete range of self-extinguishing lubricants to the tunnelling industry that includes Tail Seal Greases, Main Bearing Lubrication & Protection ... More Information

Webinar through WebEx on 18 June 2014

Webinar through WebEx on 18 June 2014

Following successful cooperation with the Robbins Company on TBM seminars in Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil, Mapei UTT is participating in the first of a Webinar series for 2014 organized by Robbins. ... More Information

Open day at Bure tunnel

On Saturday 14.06.2014 the construction site open day for the new 8.8 km Bure-Porrentruy A16 section will be held in Switzerland. The section includes the mono-tube and bi-directional 3,059 m Bure ... More Information

Robbins earns hard rock title

Robbins earns hard rock title

A 2.2 m-diameter Robbins heavy duty double shield hardrock TBM in Fairfax, VA on its seventh project has holed out after a punishing run through diabase of 345 MPa hardness. The machine has set a ... More Information

Istanbul Strait road tunnel

Istanbul Strait road tunnel

Tunnel boring under the Bosphorus as part of the Eurasia Tunnel Project (Istanbul Strait Road Tunnel) began on 19.04.2014 with a ceremony at Haydarpasa construction site. The 3,300 t TBM has been ... More Information

Marieholm tunnel

Marieholm tunnel

On 04.06.2014 the Swedish road and railway authority Trafikverket signed with the JV Zueblin/Boskalis the design and build contract for the Marieholm tunnel project. The tunnel, 30 m-wide and 10 ... More Information

More Terratec orders

More Terratec orders

Asia-Pacific based manufacturer Terratec has announced details of TBM sales to Turkey and Laos, significantly expanding the company’s current geographic spread. Read the press release and ... More Information

Central Subway Robbins TBM holes out

Central Subway Robbins TBM holes out

The first of two Robbins TBMs working on San Francisco Central Subway has holed out. Read the blog and visit www.robbinstbm.com. 23/14. More Information

Tunnelling News

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

Hochul announces $25 million for Harlem crosstown subway tunnel design

At E. 120th St., a pair of tunnel-boring machines — currently under construction in Germany — will bore new, 8,400-foot tunnels north from the end ... More Information

Tunnelling under the Yarra River

Our two Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) will soon be travelling underneath the Yarra River... Approximately 300 metres of the 6.5 kilometre North East Link will be under the Yarra ... More Information

The Boring Company says its tunneling machine is 'ready to mine in Nashville'

The Music City Loop project is aimed at transporting people from Nashville International Airport to Lower Broadway in roughly 10 minutes. By Li ... More Information

Norway Is Building the World's Longest and Deepest Tunnel Beneath the Sea

The Rogfast project, short for Rogaland Fixed Link, is an underwater road tunnel being built beneath Norway's fjords as part of the E39 coastal ... More Information

Future engineers become 'TBM Captains' for Suburban Rail Loop

Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) that will begin work this year. The tour of the eastern tunnel entrance was part of a long-term initiative, with ... More Information

Image gallery: Civil works completed on HS2's longest tunnel

Main construction on the Buckinghamshire structure began in May 2021 with the launch of two 2,000-tonne tunnel boring machines (TBMs), named Florence ... More Information

The Boring Company Launches Free Tunnel Contest: AI Applications for Smart Infrastructure

According to Sawyer Merritt on Twitter, The Boring Company has announced a contest to build a one-mile tunnel for free, inviting proposals for ... More Information

Out of sight: spectacular HS2 tunnels offer glimmer of hope for stalling project

Despite much soul-searching over UK’s inability to build infrastructure, two sections of HS2 under Chilterns are being hailed for their engineering... More Information

HS2 January 2026 update

We’re making progress building the main infrastructure for the new line. We’ve completed 80% of tunnelling and are working on major bridges, viaducts and embankments, and HS2’s new ... More Information