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Xiushan rail tunnel completed

Xiushan rail tunnel completed

The 10,303 m-long Xiushan railway tunnel on the 141 km-long Yuxi-Mengzi line of the Pan-Asia Railway eastern line was completed on 10.01.2012, after six years’ work. More Information

Toven tunnel holing imminent

Construction of 13.5 km of dual carriageway from Brattlia in Drevja to Leirosen in the county of Nordland, Norway is underway as part of the new Fv 78 link between the E6 motorway in the east and Rv 17 county road in the west. More Information

Jacobs Engineering awarded I90 contract

Jacobs Engineering Group has been awarded a contract by Washington State Department of Transport WSDOT to provide design services for fire and life safety systems improvement in the Interstate 90 Mount Baker and Mercer Island tunnels. More Information

Cairo metro breakthroughs

Despite a year of political upheaval in Egypt, on 10.01.2012 the 9.46 m-diameter NFM TBM on Line 3, Phase 2 of Cairo metro project broke through into Stadium station after a 1,579 m drive during which best production figures were 24 m/day and 109.5 m/week. More Information

Robbins opens office in Chile

The world presence of Robbins Company has increased with the opening of their 14th office, in Santiago, Chile. More Information

Tender 053/2001 – First Stage - PQ for the Design Build of TBM tunnels contract for Tel Aviv metropolis RED and GREEN LINES

NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd is an Israeli government owned company in charge of the design and construction of the mass transit system in Tel Aviv metropolitan area, Israel. More Information

Lai Chi Kok drainage tunnel breakthrough

Construction of Hong Kong’s Lai Chi Kok drainage tunnel has entered its final stage following main tunnel breakthrough in December. The EUR1.3 billion project involves construction 3.7 km of 4.9 m-diameter tunnels to intercept and transfer stormwater from the uphill areas of Lai Chi Kok More Information

CIFA announces new shotcrete machine

CIFA will be unveiling its new CST 8.20 compact shotcrete jumbo at Intermat in Paris on April 16-21. The CST 8.20 joins the established CIFA shotcreting line-up alongside the CSS-3 Step 3, the CSS-3 Crawler, and the PCS 209. The CST 8.20 is designed for tunnels up to 10 m in height and for mining applications. More Information

Sandvik jumbos on five-lane tunnel in Brazil

Sandvik jumbos on five-lane tunnel in Brazil

Four Sandvik drill jumbos are engaged in developing the widest tunnel in Latin America to house four conveyor runs and a service road. More Information

HS2 railway London-Birmingham approved

The second high speed railway line to be built in the UK will run 225 km from London Euston to Birmingham New Street. The first section out of Euston will require a 4.4 km tunnel at Ruislip, and a second new 2.25 km-long tunnel will be driven beneath the Chiltern hills at Amersham. More Information

Odebrecht and Robbins triumph at Olmos

Odebrecht and Robbins triumph at Olmos

The Olmos aqueduct in the high Andes will transfer water from the Atlantic basin to the Pacific basin to irrigate one of the driest regions of Peru. Breakthrough of the final 12.5 km-long section was achieved by a 5.3 m-diameter Robbins main beam TBM on 20.12.2011 after an epic drive through bursting rock using novel support and operating techniques. More Information

Big Chinese TBM for Yangtze crossing

The first independently developed compound slurry TBM has been presented by China Communications Construction Company Tianhe. More Information

Turin Hosts INTERtunnel 2012

INTERtunnel 2012 will be held in Turin 27-29th March, 2012 at Lingotto Fiere exhibition centre along with the rail EXPO Ferroviaria. INTERtunnel is an established platform for the international tunnelling industry to showcase new products and technologies. More Information

Spain – Updates from Line 9 at Barcelona

The EPB/hard rock mixed-mode 11.95 m-diameter tunnelling machine known as Besi, supplied by NFM for the excavation of metro line 9 in Barcelona, has reached Lesseps station. More Information

Crossrail tunnelling to commence from Royal Oak

The first of eight TBMs for London’s Crossrail project is a 140 m-long, 1,000 t machine manufactured by Herrenknecht, which is currently undergoing factory testing prior to being shipped and reassembled at Westbourne Park. More Information

Happy holidays to all our readers!

The management and staff at tunnelbuilder ltd send greetings and good wishes to all our readers around the world at this festive time. It has been a tough year for some of our supporters, but a good year for the tunnelling industry, with over 500 valuable bids advertised on our front page. So eat, drink and be merry! And be thankful that our industry is proving resilient enough to survive the ongoing financial trauma facing everybody else…..51/11. More Information

Chile cross-border priorities

According to the new ten-year plan agreed by Union de Naciones Suramericanas, 31 major projects are to be undertaken in South America. Chile’s priorities have not changed, and remain: the ... More Information

Atlas Copco to acquire GIA.

Stockholm, Sweden, December 16, 2011: Atlas Copco AB has agreed to acquire the underground business of GIA Industri AB from Vätterledens Verkstad AB. With the acquisition, Atlas Copco broadens its offering with products including electric mine trucks, utility vehicles and ventilation systems. More Information

Letter of intent signed for Karawanken dualling

Slovenia and the Austrian province of Carinthia signed a letter of intent on 09.12.2011 to build a second tube for the 7,864m-long Karawanken road tunnel. More Information

Robbins EPBs bore Final Meters in Zhengzhou

Robbins EPBs bore Final Meters in Zhengzhou

Zhengzhou, China is one step closer to becoming a national crossroads for rail traffic with the breakthrough of two EPBs. The 6.3 m (20.7 ft) Robbins TBMs have set a Chinese EPB record in the process, excavating up to 720 m (2,362 ft) in one month. The swift machines boring the Metro Line 1 holed through in October and November 2011—at least two weeks ahead of schedule. More Information

Listec line type heat detector

Listec GmbH of Isen, near Muenchen in Germany is supplying its line type heat detector to two major European projects: Line C of Rome metro, and Frejus road tunnel. More Information

Crossrail unveils its first tunnelling boring machine

Crosssrail has unveiled the first of eight, 1,000 tonne tunnel boring machines that will construct the its tunnels under central London More Information

Emcor SA seeks agents to promote their products.

Emcor SA, a Spanish company that manufactures and supplies materials for the tunnelling and mining industry, is looking for agents and/or companies to introduce and sell these products in Austria, Germany, France, Finland and Russia. More Information

New Rotterdam river crossing approved

New Rotterdam river crossing approved

On 08.12.2011 Dutch transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen gave the green light to build the Blankenburg road tunnel, west of Rotterdam. More Information

Chile – Seli has completed the exploratory tunnel for Los Bronces mine

On November 17, 2011 just over two years after works began, the Seli TBM completed the excavation of an 8km exploratory tunnel for the Los Bronces mine. Los Bronces is one of the largest copper mines in the world, and is located near Cordigliera in the Andes. More Information

USA – The state of Virginia signs off road and tunnel contracts worth USD 3 Billion

A joint venture between Skanska Infrastructure Development and Macquarie Group worth US$2.1 Billion was approved by VDOT to build a new Midtown Tunnel and to rehabilitate the existing Midtown tunnel in Virginia. More Information

CIFA formworks for Strategic Tunnel Enhancement Programme (STEP)

As a part of the new Strategic Tunnel Enhancement Programme (STEP) awarded by ADSSC of Abu Dhabi to Impregilo for the construction of the 2 lots T02 and T03, CIFA will supply formworks for the cast lining on site. More Information

Naples Line 6 reaches Municipio

Naples Line 6 reaches Municipio

On 23.11.2011 breakthrough was achieved on the Mergellina-Municipio section of Naples Line 6 when the Wirth EPB TBM reached the exit shaft in Municipio. Excavation of the 2,902 m-long, 8.25 m-diameter tunnel below the water table started in October, 2007. More Information

MoU signed for Belgrade metro

On 18.11.2011 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the city of Belgrade and Alstom Transport South Europe for construction of a new EUR1billion public rail transport system. A 15-month preliminary study by Egis Rails will determine the full technical and operational features of a 15 km line (L1) with 4.5 km underground and 25 stations. Located on the southern bank of the Danube, the Y shaped line will connect the central districts of the city, linking Ustanicka-Novi Merkator to Tvornicka on one branch, to Zelesnicka Stanica Novi Beograd on the other. More Information

Normet concrete sprayer debuts in Mexico

Normet concrete sprayer debuts in MexicoNormet introduced its new Alpha series diesel hydraulic mobile concrete sprayer, the Semmco Alpha 30, at the recent CIM mining convention in Acapulco, Mexico. ... More Information

Final breakthrough for T-Connection in Norway

Final breakthrough for T-Connection in NorwayOn 13.10.2011 final breakthrough for the 9 km-long undersea tunnel of Norway's T-Connection was safely achieved by contractor AF Gruppen AS. The project, ... More Information

Italian breakthroughs

Italian breakthroughsOn 24.10.2011 breakthrough was achieved on the north tube of the Collemaggio tunnel, located between km9.244 and km10.036 on the SS318. Two days later, another tunnel holed out ... More Information

Middle East Tunnelling 2011

Middle East Tunnelling 2011This event takes place at Oryx Rotana Hotel in Doha, Qatar on 12-14th December, 2011. The region is home to some of the most significant and innovative tunnelling projects ... More Information

Robbins EPB starts Baku metro drive

Robbins EPB starts Baku metro driveA 6.3 m-diameter Robbins EPB has commenced boring the Baku metro in Azerbaijan. Together with another similar EPB, the machine will bore parallel 3.5 km-long ... More Information

Higher costs for Blanka tunnel in Prague

Higher costs for Blanka tunnel in PragueSaturday 15.10.2011 was open day at Blanka road tunnel, part of the northwest section of the Prague ring road in the Czech Republic. The construction cost is ... More Information

Middle East Tunnelling 2011

Middle East Tunnelling 2011The MEED Middle East tunnelling conference takes place in Doha, Qatar on 12-14th December, 2011. It will provide attendees with the latest information on tunnelling ... More Information

Tunnelling News

NHAI connects Tunnel No. 4 on Shimla bypass

NHAI PIU Shimla Project Director Anand Kumar, Bharat Construction ... The tunnel was constructed using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) ... More Information

Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train Update: Palghar Tunnel Breakthrough Achieved

NHSRCL Bullet Train Project | India First Bullet Train Update: Last year, the Ministry of Railways achieved a breakthrough in the construction of ... More Information

Main tunnel works connecting future Changi Airport T5 to existing T2 completed

Main tunnel works connecting the future Terminal 5 to the existing Terminal 2 are completed, as the Changi East development gathers pace... More Information

Testing completed on Hudson River Tunnel boring machines

The project calls for construction of 9 miles of passenger-rail track between New York ... More Information

World's longest motorway tunnel finally opens in £3BILLION project

The Tianshan Shengli (Victory) Tunnel, located in the Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang, China, measures some 22 kilometres – roughly 13.75 miles – and ... More Information

Cross-river tunnel of Nanjing Metro Line 4 Phase II completes tunneling

This photo taken on Dec. 27, 2025 shows the rear of the "Xinzhengcheng" tunnel boring machine at the construction site of Nanjing Metro Line 4 ... More Information

Tunnels Design and Construction Market is Going to Boom

HTF Market Intelligence projects that the global Tunnels Design and Construction market will expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.80% from 2025 to 2032, from 72 Billion in ... More Information

Longest tunnel in the world costing £7billion will connect 3 European cities

The Brenner Base Tunnel is currently under construction and will connect the countries of Austria and Italy. The impressive tunnel, which is set ... More Information

Georgian Officials Mark Completion of Railway Modernization, Hoping to Boost Transit

The works also included the construction of the 8,300-meter dual-tube tunnel near Kvishkheti, 10 bridges, six tunnels, and around 100 engineering ... More Information

Israeli municipality approves budget for new tunnel project south of Jerusalem

The Jerusalem Governorate said that the project aims to connect the Har Homa settlement, built on Jabal Abu Ghneim land, to the Begin bypass road near ... More Information

Megaprojects Under Construction Around World In 2026

Described as the largest road tunnel in the U.K., the Lower Thames Crossing will link Tilbury in Essex via a tunnel underneath the Thames with ... More Information

Delhi Metro expansion: Cabinet approved Rs 12,015 crore project

The project, planned over a construction timeline of three years, will be executed largely underground using tunnel boring machines to minimise ... More Information

World's Longest Expressway Tunnel to Open, Linking North and South Xinjiang

Engineers used innovative methods and specially designed machines called tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to dig through hard rock faster and safer than ... More Information

The huge £21bn mega-tunnel that goes right through the middle of a mountain

Huge boring machines will create a 57.5km (35.7mile) tunnel through the Alps to connect French and Italian high-speed rail networks and link Lyon ... More Information

Rome digs deep for railway that burrows beneath the Colosseum

Tunnellers used lasers to check whether ancient columns at the nearby Forum were not wobbling as their 300ft long tunnel boring machine churned ... More Information

World’s largest-diameter high-speed railway shield tunneling machine reaches milestone

The world's largest-diameter high-speed railway shield tunneling machine independently developed by China, “Linghang,” for the Chongming-Taizhou ... More Information

Third circuit on £1bn London Power Tunnels 2 project energised

Electricity has begun flowing through a new section of National Grid's London Power Tunnels 2 (LPT2) project after the energisation of a ... More Information

Westmead metro station cavern formwork the biggest in the southern hemisphere

Crews are now retrieving the 1,200-tonne Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) that arrived beneath Westmead in September and October, lifting each machine ... More Information

Webuild: excavation begins on three tunnels for Salerno-Reggio Calabria HS/HC Railway

All four TBMs planned for Lot 1A Battipaglia–Romagnano section are operational with launch of latest three Joining TBM Partenope, already active, are Leucosia and Ligea, whose names were ... More Information

SELI Overseas: 75 Years of Tunneling with TBMs

From Channel Tunnel to the Brenner Tunnel: When Tunneling Is Synonymous with Innovation ... SELI TBM at work on the construction site... More Information

Road realignment is major step for HS2, says firm

HS2 Ltd A view of the realigned B4525 on an overcast day. · HS2 Ltd An aerial view of the construction of Greatworth tunnel showing major earthworks ... More Information

Amtrak has made real progress in East River Tunnel rehabilitation

The tunnel has been stripped down to the concrete liner. Westbrook was told the project isn't just about modernizing and replacing what was, but also ... More Information

Madrid invests EUR 123 million in new metro stations on Line 11

TBM Mayrit enters into action in 2026 · November 2025 – February 2026: assembly of the tunnel boring machine in Comillas Park (Carabanchel district) ... Facebook Twitter Flag as ... More Information

Jerusalem Light Rail Construction Advances Ahead of Major Tunnel Work

Local reporting on city project materials notes that “the plan calls for a 2-km underground tunnel to be built beneath the city center, including ... More Information

Why and how the Civil Works Alliance changed Sizewell C tunnel designs from Hinkley Point C

Ground conditions around Sizewell C have required intense collaboration between the project’s contractors alliance to come up with new outfall and intake tunnel design solutions... More Information

AI planning of the first railway tunnel through challenging terrain

AI plans first rail tunnel through tough terrain. Artificial Intelligence China Uses AI for the Construction of Railway Tunnels. 2025-12-08 ... More Information

Will Tunneling Projects Be The Next Big Thing For Mumbai's Public Transport?

During the interview, she also called tunnel boring machines the safest and one of the most efficient ways of doing tunelling. "Only the place of the ... More Information

Chipolbrok vessels deliver tunnel boring machines to Sydney and mineral bulk to Peru

Chipolbrok delivers TBMs for Sydney Metro on Chipolbrok Star and loads 29000t minerals in Peru on Taixing, showcasing fleet versatility... More Information

How Seequent's software solutions help to manage tunnelling data

The second phase of Singapore's Cross Island Line (CRL) metro project is under way, assisted by a suite of software from Seequent. Singapore's CRL is ... More Information

Muography to Transform Tunnel Safety Monitoring

Underwater bridge tunnels have become vital arteries for cities, enabling smooth vehicular passage beneath rivers, bays, and inland waterways. More than 200 of these structures operate ... More Information

10 longest tunnels in the world that reshaped global transportation

Modern tunnel construction involves sophisticated techniques, including tunnel boring machines and advanced geological surveying. The project ... More Information

Čučković: Construction of the tunnel boring machine for the Belgrade Metro in final phase

It is a good thing that we, for example, acquired these tunnel boring machines at a lower price than other countries... More Information

Serbia plans to borrow 2.5 billion EUR in 2026 for the construction of the Belgrade metro

It is also stated that two TBMs (tunnel boring machines), the so-called moles, have already been ordered and are expected to be delivered to ... More Information

VSM starts operation at Tilbury

The pioneering Vertical Shaft Sinking Machine (VSM) from Herrenknecht, named “Verena”, after Verena Holmes, a pioneering British mechanical ... More Information

Metrolinx reveals names of Ontario Line tunnel boring machines

Following a contest, Metrolinx has officially named its two massive tunnel boring machines Libby and Corkie... More Information

Montreal blue line metro tunnel boring machine has arrived, time to dig

It's basically building the backbone of the blue line extension,” said project chief Maha Clour, pointing out that crews have reached the bottom of ... More Information

Norway Unveils The World's Longest Road Tunnel In A Majestic Engineering Marvel

The construction cost broke down to about 38,000 NOK (roughly £3,500) per meter, an impressive figure considering the complexity and scale of the ... More Information

Sydney Metro West construction captured on video ahead of 2032 opening

Two giant tunnel boring machines have made their way through the deepest section of Darling Harbour as part of works on the new Metro West. More Information

Bengaluru's ₹18,000-crore tunnel road project inches closer as four major firms submit bids

Four firms bid for Bengaluru's ₹18000 crore tunnel project linking Hebbal to Silk Board, expected to ease city traffic by 2029 under a 34-year ... More Information