On Monday 06 May 2024 the ministry of transportation and Santiago metro witnessed the launch ceremony of the TBM EPB christened La Matucana, after an avenue in Quinta Normal municipality. The machine will drive 6.6km of tunnel covering 7 stations located in the districts of Renca, Cerro Navia and part of Quinta Normal for the Santiago metro line 7. It’s the first TBM to be used for metro lines construction in Santiago. Between February and April the TBM was assembled in the 25 m deep launch shaft at the Renca construction site. The TBM EPB, 9.8 m in diameter and manufactured by CRCHI, will face difficulties and challenges in Santiago geology when passing through gravel and sandstone. During the excavation the disc cutter will be replaced every 2 km.
At the end of May, the excavation phase will begin at the future terminal station of Santiago metro Line 7, located at the intersection of Av. Vicuna Mackenna and Av. Brasil, in the district of Renca, in the north-south direction. This phase will last until the end of 2025, covering a route of seven stations. The extraction of the TBM will take place at the future station number 7, located at the intersection of Av. Mapocho and Joaquín Walker Martínez, in Quinta Normal. During the advancement the TBM will install tunnel lining rings, composed of seven precast concrete segments.
On average, the TBM is expected to advance 15 to 17 m/day .This will require an average of 70 segments (10 rings) per day. Metro de Santiago plans to produce 26,000 segments, which will be installed by this machine between May 2024 and the end of 2025.
The future Line 7 – which is 26 km long with 19 stations and will pass through eight districts: Renca, Cerro Navia, Quinta Normal, Santiago, Recoleta, Providencia, Las Condes and Vitacura. Three of which will be incorporated into the Metro network for the first time (Renca, Cerro Navia and Vitacura), benefiting about 1.6 million inhabitants.
The construction of 26 km of tunnel, six ventilation shafts and the access tunnels needed for the 7 underground stations will be completed in 2026. The civil works stage for the construction of the stations will begin in 2025 ending. By mid 2028 the installation of equipment and track, first test train runs and, finally, the commissioning of Line 7 will be finished. The journey time between the Line 7 terminal stations is estimated to be around 37 minutes, a reduction of 49% compared to the current time.
For further information please click here and cl/38 for tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://www.metro.cl/. 19/24.
