On the 22.03.2017, Implenia broke through on a section of the U-Bahn in central Berlin having reached the  Brandenburger Tor station from the new U5 tunnel built. The new tunnel connects the U55 line, which runs between Berlin’s main railway central station and Brandenburger Tor,  with the existing U5 line between Alexanderplatz and Hönow.

Commissioned by the BVG and led by Projektrealisierungs GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BVG, Implenia has been working on the new U5 since 2011. The project includes the extension of the existing U5 from Alexanderplatz to Brandenburger Tor, and the link-up – achieved on 22.03.2017 – with the U55 line. This stage includes the tunnel shell construction sub-project, which began in 2013 when the TBM Mixshield (length 74 m, weight 700t, diameter 6.7 m), named Barlinde and built by Herrenknecht, was brought into action. The machine drilled two 1.6 km tunnels of the 2.2 km Alexanderplatz - Brandenburg Gate stretch and lined them with 2,147 rings. Passengers will be able to travel along the whole 22 km section between Hönow and the Hauptbahnhof in 2020, by which time the three new U-Bahn stations will be also be ready, Rotes Rathaus, Museumsinsel and the Unter den Linden interchange. Implenia is also building the latter two stations. Click de/87 for tunnelbuilder archive. Visit http://www.projekt-u5.de/en/ and https://www.implenia.com/. 22/17.