On the 30/08/21 at a depth of 266 m the TBM Dorine completed its first tunnelling drive at Rolland! The TBM was launched last February from Verdun, and crossed the future Grand   Paris Express Le Bourget RER station and ended the construction of the first 1.1 km tunnel for Line 17. This work now connects the line to the shared section of Lines 16 and 17, between Le Bourget and Saint-Denis.

In the next few months, the 100 m long machine will be dismantled and its parts transported to the Verdun structure located at the crossroads of La Courneuve and Le Bourget. In early 2022 Dorine will start to drive the second tunnel, still in the direction of the Rolland structure for further information please click here .

Line 16 - TBM Sarah breaks through at Finot

On 23/08/2021 the TBM - named Sarah, named after the French boxer Sarah Ourahmoune – broke through at the Finot service structure in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine on Line 16. The Grand Paris Express’s Saint-Denis Pleyel station will be the Lines 16 and 17’s terminus. At Finot, trains arriving at the terminus,  will be able to change direction.  

The TBM - launched at the end of July 2020 from the shaft at Aubervilliers near the future La Courneuve - Six Routes station - took just over a year to dig the 2.6 km tunnel that will be used by both Lines 16 and 17. The breakthrough is an important milestone in the construction of this line which crosses the Seine-Saint-Denis Department and whose inauguration is scheduled in 2026, two years after the original estimated date.

Over 400,000 t of spoil was transported along the Saint-Denis canal, reducing CO2 emissions and the number of trucks on the local roads. The TBM Sarah will be reused in 2022 to excavate the Stade de France - Saint-Denis-Pleyel section of the Line 15 East .  

For further information please click here and fr/127 in the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit  https://www.societedugrandparis.fr/ . 35/21.