Herrenknecht TBM Completes Metronorte Line in MadridA TBM dubbed 'Chotis' finished the Metronorte tunnel as it holed through into Marques de la Valdavia station in Alcobendas at 12:18 p.m. on 18th September, 2006 thus completing the job for the Madrid regional government. The station is the seventh of the eleven spread out along the line. The 9.4 m-diameter machine has been manufactured by Herrenknecht. The tunnel section bored by the TBM spans 5,578 m out of a total of 15.7 kilometres of tunnel. The new line will serve 11 stations (Tres Olivos, Montecarmelo, Las Tablas, Ronda de las Comunicaciones, La Granja, La Moraleja, Marques de la Valdavia, Manuel de Falla, Baunatal, Reyes Catolicos, and Hospital del Norte). Three Herrenknecht EPB TBMs have been used to dig the line, two of which are new ('Metromachine', machine S-280 on section 2-B and 'Chotis', machine S-295 on sections 1-C and 2-A) and one revamped ('Madriladora', machine S-276 on section 1-B). The shields have worked in several directions. 'Madriladora' advanced from PAU de Las Tablas towards Madrid, 'Chotis' from there also but heading north to Alcobendas and the third one, 'Metromachine', from the terminus of the line in San Sebastian de los Reyes. Click here. Read E-News Weekly 30/2006. Visit www.herrenknecht.com Esperanza Aguirre, president of the Madrid regional government, during the breakthrough ceremony marking the end of tunnelling on Metronorte, the north extension of Line 10 in Madrid The machine has been the ninth TBM to reach destination out of the ten that have worked simultaneously on the subway expansion. Now, six months of work remain to finish the stations and lay the tracks so that Metronorte can be inaugurated next spring. There is only one breakthrough left on the Metroeste line, the east extension of Line 7 to Coslada and San Fernando de Henares, and the 90 kilometres of metro and tram lines built during the 2003-2007 term of office will be concluded. The Metronorte line will connect north Madrid with new urban developments in Montecarmelo and Las Tablas, and with Alcobendas and San Sebastian de Los Reyes. The line will open next spring. In total, the Madrid regional government has invested EUR784.5 million in the project. Click es/109. 39/06.