The tunnel boring machine (TBM) for Hanoi’s second metro line project, Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station, has been assembled and ready for the tunnel excavation, according to the Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board (MRB).
After arriving in Hai Phong port on October 31 and moved to underground station S9, the first of the four underground stations on the Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station route along Kim Ma street in Ba Dinh district, the components of machine have been brought to the construction site.
To take the components down to S9, the MRB has employed cranes with a loading capacity of 500 tons. |
The MRB said it is estimated that the assembly of the excavator will take two months, so drilling of the tunnel of the Nhon-Hanoi metro line can begin in January 2021. |
The machine was manufactured by German firm Herrenkecht. It has tube shape with a boring shield at front and is 6.6m wide. |
It stretches more than 100 meters, weighs over 850 tons and has a rotating cutting wheel with a diameter of 6.58 meters. The machine is designed to drill 10-18 meters of tunnel per day. |
According to MRB, the complex apparatus includes a cutting rotor, a propulsion cylinder and a belt conveyor system for muck (including soil and rock) removal. |
This is an Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) drill, MRB added. |
All the components have been assembled on the site at S9 station to commence work on the four-kilometer underground section of the line. |
Workers of FECON Joint Stock Company is assembling the machine for operating it next January. |
The second TBM is expected to dock at Hai Phong port in December 2020. |
When the Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station is in operation, it is expected to be a green solution to reduce traffic congestion, urban pollution, and improve local residents’ life quality. |
The Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station, will run 12.5 kilometers from the Nhon area in the western district of Nam Tu Liem via Kim Ma street to Hanoi Railway Station on Le Duan street. It will run 8.5 kilometers on elevated tracks through eight stations and the remaining four kilometers underground.
The metro line on October 20 received its first train from France and begin operations in April 2021 on the elevated track, which is now 99.5% complete. The underground track is scheduled to begin operations in 2023.
The project has a total investment of VND36 trillion (US$1.56 billion), sourced mainly from official development assistance (ODA) loans.
