EPB Shield Herrenknecht tunnel boring machine ordered by Austrian specialists
The Herrenknecht tunnel boring machine, specifically the EPB Shield (Earth Pressure Balance Shield) unit was ordered by the Austrian tunnel building experts. The expansion of subway line 2 from Vienna City Hall to the south is being built by STRABAG and PORR in joint venture for Wiener Linien, the operator of the Vienna subway.
“The Herrenknecht EPB Shield is the optimal machine type for the predominantly clayey geology that we expect according to the preliminary investigations,” stated Ralph Lickert, Project Manager at Herrenknecht.
The Herrenknecht EPB Shield for the Austrian capital measures 6,840 mm in diameter, 120 m in length, and weighs 1,200 tons in total. The machine will begin at the upcoming Matzleinsdorfer Platz station and travel 2.1 kilometers northward through a tunnel beneath Augustinplatz. After that, the Herrenknecht tunnel boring machine will be dragged back down the precast concrete-lined bored tunnel to drive the parallel tube from Matzleinsdorfer Platz.
Vienna’s response to an increasing population is the extension of the metro network. More than 2 million people are expected to live in the capital by 2030. According to the city, the investment in the line extensions will create and secure around 30,000 jobs.
Using the automated tunneling technology from Herrenknecht tunnel boring machines, construction companies throughout the world have already dug more than 3,000 km of tunnels for high-performance metro systems in more than 1,300 projects. The Grand Paris Express and Sydney Metro projects, which use 22 and 15 Herrenknecht machines, respectively, are examples of current flagship projects.
Project Data Vienna Metro Line 2
- Client: Wiener Linien
- Contractors: Arge U2 17-21 Strabag AG Porr Bau GmbH
- Application: Metro
- Drive length: 2 x 2,100m
Machine Data
- Machine type: EPB Shield
- Diameter: 6,840mm
- Cutterhead drive power: 1,920kW
- Torque (max.): 15,028kNm