Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) smashes open world's longest tunnel under Swiss Alps

This is the Gotthard Base tunnel in Switzerland. Not my film, and not one of my jobs, but I was fortunate to be able to visit this tunnel during construction a few years back. Took a high speed construction elevator from the surface in a little Swiss town called Sedrun. (Love to go back for a ski trip...) Interesting project, and the longest tunnel in the world. We (Hatch mott MacDonald) are currently working on the largest soft-ground tunnel in the world under the Seattle waterfront along Alaskan Way (58-feet in diameter).

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Tunnel Boring Machine

[ScalerWave]

Amazing technology. I saw these on Discovery Channel a while back. It's cool the way they use the debris to help form the concrete walls as they bore thru the ground and create the whole tunnel not just the bore.

[WeepingZeeGuitars]

@ScalerWave It is cool, but that's not debris, those are precast concrete segments. I'll send you some pix later.

[jimguitarfan]

Heeere's Johnny !

Impressive piece of machinery worthy of Thunderbird 2. Maybe I should try and get out a bit more,though.

Thanks for the post,Mike. Now back on geetar duty !

[WeepingZeeGuitars]

@jimguitarfan "International Tunnel Rescue" would be a good name for a tunnel design firm... Hmmmm. OK, back to guitars...

[0ldfinger]

That is a big machine! Did it start off pointy, and end up completely blunt? NB I suspect this is a naive idea.

[WeepingZeeGuitars]

@0ldfinger No, unlike the Television versions, a real TBM is flat at the business end. The high forward thrust forces the discs into the rock and the rock actually splits off the face between discs in tensile failure. You can see the discs in the video. They are usually 17 to 19-inches in diameter and free to rotate as the cutterwheel rotates (otherwise they would wear out at one point).

[KarlheinzFey1]

Great work and very interesting video!:)

[williheckaslike]

Amazing !



[soundproof714]

cool!!

[FrankRMusic]

The greatest moment in the live of a tunnel;-) Schweizer Gotthard Tunnel. 1880 (!!) the first Gotthard tunnel, 15 km.