Lyon-Turin construction site: the first Italian tunnel boring machine has been delivered

Measuring 235 meters in length and equipped with a cutter wheel over 10 meters in diameter, this tunnel boring machine was received at the Herrenknecht factory in Germany before its transfer to the Chiomonte construction site in the Susa Valley, the Franco-Italian company Telt, responsible for the execution and management of the cross-border section of the project, indicated in a press release.

It will "accelerate the digging of the southern tube of the base tunnel, joining the work already carried out on the French side," according to the press release.

For this Italian section, the work will be carried out by the UXT group of companies, which brings together the Italian companies Itinera, Ghella and the French company Spie-Batignolles.

In total, seven tunnel boring machines will be mobilized to dig simultaneously in France and Italy, five on the French side (where some 145 kilometers of mountain must be bored through) and two on the Italian side (12,5 kilometers of tunnel to be dug).

Designed to dig in varied geological conditions under covers of up to 2.000 meters of rock, the first of the two Italian tunnel boring machines will have to be dismantled, transported piece by piece, reassembled on site on a construction platform, before beginning its descent into the mountain in 2027.

The machine is powered by 13 motors and is expected to advance approximately 10 meters per day.

The device includes an integrated crusher capable of reducing the size of excavated rocks, as well as a pipeline to transport a mixture of water, bentonite and crushed material to the outside, Telt said in its statement.

At its peak, approximately 700 people will be working on this construction site.

By the end of February, more than 47 kilometers of tunnels had already been excavated on the entire project, on the French side, including more than 20 kilometers of the base tunnel, representing approximately 29% of the 164 kilometers of total tunnels planned for the project.