04 Dec 2009

The tunnel boring machine (TBM) that is being used to complete the Bologna-Conca d’Oro section of Rome’s B1 underground line by the end of 2011 has arrived at its destination station one day ahead of schedule. The Feast Day of Santa Barbara, the patron saint of miners and underground workers, was an ideal opportunity to celebrate the arrival of the TBM . Celebrations at the Salini construction site of the Libia-Gondar station, situated 12 metres beneath the ground, were attended this morning by the Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, the Alderman for Mobility, Sergio Marchi, Chairman and Managing Director of Roma Metropolitane, Giovanni Ascarelli and Federico Bortoli, and Salini Costruttori’s Managing Director Pietro Salini.
TBMs do not interfere in any way with the road surface. Whilst excavating the tunnel they simultaneously line the tunnel with a final covering, consisting of ring-shaped prefabricated reinforced concrete blocks. Excavation of the tunnel is preceded by the construction of stations and intermediate shafts: the TBMs cross these constructions when their reinforced concrete structure is already complete.
The Bologna-Conca d’Oro section is scheduled to open by the end of 2011, while the Conca D’Oro-Jonio section will be operational by the end of 2012. By July 2010 two tunnels to Bologna station will be built. A second TBM also started out from Conca D'Oro station, digging another lined tunnel, and is now 100 metres from the Libia-Gondar station.