At the end of 2020 two TBMs Katarzyna and Faustina began their tunnelling journey between the Lodz Fabryczna station and Lodz Kaliska e Lodz Zabieniec in Poland.
Katarzyna - the bigger TBM (external diameter of 12.7 m) - will drive a 2.8 km double-track tunnel from the eastern chamber at Ulica/Street Stolarska/Odolanowska to Lodz Fabryczna station. The machine has named after St Catherine of Alexandria, the patron saint of the railways.
At the same time Faustina - the smaller TBM (outer diameter of 8.5 m) - named after St. Faustina Kowalska, the patron saint of Lodzi - will bore 4 single-track tunnels to Lodz Kaliska and Lodz Zabieniec with a total length of approx. 4.5 km. The machine will drive from the chamber at Ulica/Street Długosza and Aleja/Avenue Włokniarzy towards the western chamber at Ulica/Street Stolarska/Odolanowska. The TBM Faustina will bore approximately a 900 m tunnel. Then it will be rotated and start working towards the Lodz Zabieniec station. At this stage, it will bore a tunnel from Ulica/Street Włokniarzy to the chamber at Ulica/Street Skarpowa. Then the machine will be moved to the chamber at Ulica/Street Inowrocławska and will bore a tunnel to the chamber at Aleja/AvenueWłokniarzy.
Above-ground and underground works on several construction sites
Construction has also started on the western part of a chamber in the area of Ulica/Street Stolarska/Odolanowska, where TBM Faustina will complete the boring of the first tunnel. A second chamber is also being built for TBM Faustina near Ulica/Street Skarpowa, where the single-track tunnel towards Lodz Zabieniec will end.
Works for Lodz tunnels also outside the city
Pekabex SA at Mszczonow produced 100 segments per day for the tunnels lining: 13.500 segments will be used for the double track tunnel and 16,400 segments will be used for the 4 single track tunnels. The segments are carried by trucks from Mszczonow plant to Lodz sites, where they are stored for 2 weeks of work.
In parallel to the activities on construction sites, design works are being carried out related to the underground stops Lodz Polesie and Lodz Srodmiescie. The contractor will also start working on the third stop, Lodz Koziny (working name) in the next couple of months.
The tunnel in Lodz connects Poland
The cross-city tunnel is a continuation of the construction of the Lodz Fabryczna station, which will become a transit station. Regional and long-distance trains will be able to travel through the center of Lodz - on the east-west axis (via Lodz Widzew, Fabryczna and Kaliska stations) and on the north-south axis (via Lodz Widzew, Fabryczna, Zabieniec stations).
The project entitled "Improvement of the Lodz Railway Junction (TEN-T), Stage II, Lodz Fabryczna - Lodz Kaliska / Lodz Zabieniec section" is co-financed under the Infrastructure and Environment Operational Program. The value of the project is EUR 389,87 million (PLN 1,76 bn) of which EU funding is EUR 316.97 million (PLN1.43 bn). Lodz is Poland’s third-largest city with a population of nearly 700 000 and is capital of the Lodzkie region.
In 2018 the consortium Przedsiębiorstwo Budowy Drog i Mostow Minsk Mazowiecki and Energopol Szczecin secured the contract for the design and construction of the tunnel. Now the planned commissioning date is the end of 2022, one year later than the original schedule mainly due to bankruptcy of the former consortium leader - Energopol Szczecin.
For further information please click here for the video, and pl/18 for tunnelbuilder archive. For further on the project visit https://ec.europa.eu/, https://www.plk-sa.pl/ and http://tunel-laczypolske.pl/. 02/21.
