Trial driving of the left interstation tunnel was started using Herrenknecht-736 Tunnel Boring Machine in Lermontovsky Prospekt – Vykhino section of Taganskaya – Krasnopresnenskaya subway line in Moscow.
The tunnel boring machine was delivered to the construction suite in separate assemblies and assembled in a launch pit on a specially prepared concrete bed. After the scheduled shakedown operations have been completed, the trial tunneling was started. The tunnel boring machine will have to travel 1800 meters before arriving at Vykhino station.
The machine is 82-meter long; it weighs 508 metric tons and has the cutting diameter of 6.15 meters. The tunneling system has a tunnel liner installation unit, which allows the reinforced concrete liner to be installed simultaneously with the tunneling. The prefab liner blocks are 0.5-meter thick and 1.4-meter long.
Photo by the author