On 03.02.2017 the contractor Eiffage launched a Robbins TBM, for construction of the 2750 m Janots water tunnel in La Ciotat, France. The 220t machine has been named Augustine, after the mother of Marcel Pagnol, a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. The TBM is 135 m long with a 3.50 m diameter. It will tunnel in a limestone rock but it could meet karst cavities: small karst will be filled with concrete, large cavities will be bypassed with a small parallel tunnel.

The tunnel will replace the existing structure, currently located in the railway tunnel. This will stop the estimated water losses of 500,000 m3 / year,  which will improve the supply of drinking water to the La Ciotat and Cassis municipalities.  The project should be finished by the end of 2018, by that stage the project would have taken a period of 36 months to complete. Click here for a video and fr/123 for tunnelbuilder archive. Visit http://www.therobbinscompany.com/en/ and http://www.eiffage.com. 07/17.