Second TBM Start for Line 9 in BarcelonaLlobri, this is the name of the second TBM that will drive the 44 km metro line 9 in Barcelona. The machine started to tunnel the new line between the Gorg area in Badalona and La Sagrera, where it is awaited in 2005. The TBM is a Herrenknecht EPB machine, which has been lowered in a 25 m-deep box located opposite the former municipal bullring in La Salut area. The machine is 12.06 m in diameter, 90 m in length and weighs 2,300t. Daily progress is expected to reach 20 m. Further to the test period, the TBM will bore under La Salut, Llefià and Santa Coloma, where it will pass under the Besòs river in Can Peixauet, before reaching La Sagrera. To make sure that the machine will not cause subsidence, preventive subsoil treatment has been necessary in Salvador Seguí street in La Salut and in the area of the coastal freeway under which the machine will progress to cross the Besòs river. Concretely, cement is being injected in Salvador Seguí street up to a depth of 20 m. Up to 750 kg of cement mixed with water form 60 cm-wide jet-grouting columns. In addition, in La Salut area, sensors have been installed to monitor any ground movement or vibration so that grouting can be implemented if necessary prior to the passage of the TBM. When Llobri arrives in La Sagrera, it will be dismantled and transported to Zona Franca. There, the machine will excavate a section to Zona Universitària. Visit www.herrenknecht.comAnother big TBM, named Besi and built by NFM, has already driven 400 m approximately in Can Zam Park in Santa Coloma since it started its job last 20th June. This first machine, 11.95 m in diameter, will cross the municipality to arrive in Can Peixauet in early 2004. There, the machine will be disassembled and sent to La Sagrera, where it will start the central section of the future line, from the high speed train station to Zona Universitària. Visit www.wirth-europe.de/NFM/NFM.htmThe only section that the two machines will not tunnel is the fork section from Zona Franca to the airport. Two smaller TBMs will be used to avoid damage to water-bearing grounds of the Llobregat delta. 38/03. The Herrenknecht TBM in Badalona