The TBM Mixshield Gaia, involved in the construction of the N434 Rijnlandroute tunnel, between the A4 at Leiden and the A44 at Wassenaar has now completed 50% of its tunnelling. The two tubes, 2 lanes each, will be linked by 10 bypasses,
all made using the freezing technique.
TBM Gaia reached the milestone of 1,000 meters drilled on the 13th November, 2019, achieving a speed of 24 to 28 m/day on some days since its launch. During the tunnelling process, the cutting wheel, excavation tools and a number of other components must be controlled, maintained or cleaned and obstructions must be removed. The Tbm has worked under high chamber prtessures at depths of 31m, some work had to be carried out by professional divers under these compressed air conditions.
The consortium Comol5 composed of VINCI Construction Grands Projets, DIMCO, Mobilis TBI and Croonwolter & dros is working with Herrenknecht AG, DCN Diving and Global Tunneling Experts on the first part of the RijnlandRoute. For further information please click here and nl/41 for tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://www.comol5.nl/. 48/19.
