Lovat Receives Order for TBM in SpainLovat has signed a contract with a joint venture whose members are FCC, OHL and Copisa for the supply of a new Lovat RME270SE earth pressure balance tunnel boring machine. The TBM will be used in the construction of the so-called Vallès metro extension from Terrassa to Can Roca, an integrated system within the Barcelona suburban rail system. The TBM is scheduled for delivery in mid 2008. Click es/29. Visit www.lovat.com, www.fcc.es, www.ohl.es and www.copisa.com The 6.9 m-diameter, mixed face TBM will bore twin 3,727 m-long tunnels along a minimum horizontal radius of 160 metres and a maximum slope of 4%. The entire tunnel alignment is below the groundwater surface, with groundwater heights above the tunnel invert varying from 5 to 24 metres.Depth of cover above the tunnel crown ranges from 5 to 30 meters. Geology along the tunnel alignment is comprised of Quaternary sedimentary deposits consisting of argillaceous, granular and cemented materials underlain by Tertiary (Miocene) argillaceous and granular deposits. Isolated layers of cemented deposits and conglomerate are also expected to be encountered along the alignment. The extension from Terrassa-Rambla station of the Barcelona-Vallès line S1 will add three new stations (Vallparadís-UPC, Terrassa-Renfe and Can Roca). The first station will serve the Polytechnic university of Catalonia's campus while the second section will provide interchange with trains operated by Renfe, the Spanish state railway company. Read E-News Weekly 44/2003.It was first envisaged to bore the project in two phases, using conventional mining methods in the first phase, from the current final station in Terrassa-Rambla to Vallparadís-UPC, and a TBM in the second phase from Vallparadís-UPC to Can Roca. In January 2005 however, further to the El Carmel collapse of a service tunnel excavated as part of the extension to Line 5 of the Barcelona metro between Horta and Vall d'Hebron, the Catalan regional government announced that the whole project would be built in a unique stage using a TBM on the entire alignment. It is predicted that once the line opens, it will be used by up to 32,000 passengers a day, almost the double of today's figures. The project will greatly improve connections between Terrassa, the west Vallès plain, Barcelona and the metropolitan area, as well as movements within the city. Visit www.trenscat.com/metrovalles/perllmvallestrsa_ct.html (in Catalan) 33/07.