Lovat 5.63 m-diameter EPB will be used to construct 11 km of twin-tube metro in silt, loam, clay and sand at depths to 28 m and water pressures of up to 1.9 bar. Precast concrete lining comprises seven segments and key with inner diameter 5.1 m and ring width of 1 m. November 1999.Kazmetrostroy, in charge of building Kazan's metro, has ordered a second hand TBM from NFM Technologies. This machine will work with the first TBM already at work under the city, to bore a twin-tube tunnel as part of the first metro line. Kazan, capital of the Tatarstan province and located 800 km east of Moscow, is the eleventh city in Russia to build a metro. The network will be 42.4 km-long with three lines to be completed around 2025. The city of Kazan intends to inaugurate part of the first line for its century celebration in 2005.The EPB TBM from NFM Technologies will bore 1,790 m creating the bi-tube tunnel of the first metro line already under construction. The soil is mostly composed of sand and clay with a ground pressure less than 3 bar.In its plant in Le Creusot, France NFM Technologies is modifying one of the two EPB TBMs with foam injection previously used to bore the Copenhagen metro. The machine will be adapted to the working conditions of Kazan's project. This EPB was first built by NFM Technologies. The machine will be equipped with a new cutterhead with a diameter of 5.89 m. The first cutterhead was 5.71 m in diameter. The machine weighs about 650 tonnes. Visit www.nfm-technologies.com 44/03.A refurbished 5.89 m-diameter Lovat TBM RME232SE Series 14600, which recently completed the mini metro project in Moscow, is now boring 1,896 m of tunnel on the first line between Sukonnaya Sloboda and Ametievo stations. Her sister, a Lovat TBM RME226SE Series 17500, is driving a parallel tunnel. Visit www.lovat.com 22/04.
