The companies together with the public promoter witnessed the trials of the machine that will excavate the next 9 km beneath Mont Cenis.  

Schwanau (DE), 7 July 2023 - The first of the forthcoming seven TBMs that will complete the excavation of the two 57.5 km-long tubes of the Mont Cenis base tunnel, the main work of the new Lyon-Turin freight and passenger railway line, has been unveiled at the Herrenknecht factory in Germany. 

The 180-metre-long, 10.4-metre-diameter tunnel boring machine was formally handed over this morning to the French-Italian group of companies denominated CO 6-7, consisting of VINCI Construction Grands Projets (contractor), Webuild, Dodin Campenon Bernard and Campenon Bernard Centre Est.  

This TBM will be responsible for excavating the 9 km of the northern tube of the base tunnel, between Saint-Martin-la-Porte and La Praz, running parallel with the part completed in 2019 by the Federica TBM. For the same 6-7 construction site, two more TBMs are being built, which will have the task of excavating the tunnels in the section between La Praz and Modane.  

Also present at the delivery ceremony were the top management of TELT, the binational public promoter in charge of carrying out the work, the managers of the SETEC/Systra/Italferr and PINI group construction management team, as well as representatives of DG Move – the European Commission responsible for mobility and transport policies – and CINEA – the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, which is coordinating the European Commission's programmes for decarbonisation and sustainable growth. The delivery of the TBM is one of the milestones of the financing agreements between France, Italy, and the European Union. 

'The delivery of the first TBM to operational construction sites 6 and 7 in just 10 months demonstrates the incredible passion and motivation of our team, our construction management and Herrenknecht to achieve great things on time and safely. We are looking forward to a great adventure,' said Gilles Dumoulin, Project Director. 

The TBM 

The construction of the TBM, which was designed, manufactured, and assembled in 10 months at Herrenknecht's plant in Schwanau, Baden-Württemberg, involved numerous European companies, including a dozen in Italy and France. 

The numbers involved for this underground giant are impressive:  8,100 kilowatts of power, 2,300 tonnes in weight and a head with 61 rotating cutters – the 'teeth' that crush the rock and allow the machine to advance into the mountain. In addition, immediately after the head has moved forward, the cutter covers the living rock of the tunnel with a succession of rings: 8 segments of tunnel lining in reinforced concrete that assure maximum stability of the tunnel through which trains will travel between France and Italy. The TBM consists of a real travelling factory that includes 10 trailers that also transport the extracted rock to the surface on a conveyor belt. 

In the coming months, the TBM will be disassembled and transported with 130 special convoys from the Herrenknecht factory to the Saint-Martin-la-Porte platform, where it will be reassembled in the heart of the mountain, and then start its excavation towards Italy.

Status of work in progress 

The construction of the international section of the Lyon-Turin line from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in France to Susa in Italy, is advancing with ten operational underground and above ground construction sites on both sides of the Alps. In addition to the four access adits, more than 20% of the 162 km of tunnels planned for the project have been excavated to date, and with the sites at full capacity, with 4,000 people at work and 15 active excavation fronts, 7 TBMs will advance simultaneously to complete the two tunnel tubes.

The Mont Cenis base tunnel constitutes the central link in the Mediterranean Corridor, one of the 9 axes of the TEN-T railway network under construction throughout Europe. The new tunnel will allow trains to bypass the Alps at the level of the plain, making transport more energy-efficient and economical for both freight and passengers, and becoming the most sustainable alternative to trucks and aeroplanes. For further information please visit https://www.telt.eu/en/ .