Five 6 meters diameter tunnel boring machines were in operation here
“The tunnelling work on the south-west of the Moscow’s Big Circle Line (BCL) was carried out under increased technological complexity conditions”, said Andrey Bochkarev, Deputy Mayor of Moscow on Urban Planning and Construction. Mosinzhproekt Engineering Holding is the operator of the Moscow Metro Development Program.
“When tunnelling the single-track tunnels of the south-west section of the BCL between Aminyevskaya, Michurinsky Prospekt and Prospekt Vernadskogo, the builders have successfully overcome numerous engineering and technological challenges related to dense residential development and the abundance of infrastructure facilities in these city districts,” said Andrey Bochkarev.
According to him, five 6 meters diameter tunnel boring machines were in operation here, building a total of 9 single-track tunnels between the section’s stations and neighbouring sections.
“At the same time, an additional middle tunnel has been laid in the headshunt behind the Aminyevskaya station for rolling stock turnover,” added the Deputy Mayor.
From his part, Yuri Kravtsov, General Director of Mosinzhproekt JSC, explained that the work near the Prospekt Vernadskogo and Michurinsky Prospekt stations was complicated by the dense residential development around the construction sites, the existing underground facilities and the busy sections of the main highways in the south-west of the city.
“Immediate proximity of the reinforced concrete structures of the existing stations of the Kalininsko-Solntsevskaya Line and the Sokolnicheskaya Line to the construction sites of the new stations required precise and accurate tunneling with minute-by-minute monitoring of the situation, as well as settlement of issues related to organising not only the construction, but also compensation transportations of metro passengers,” emphasized the head of the holding.
He also added that there is a railway line near the Aminyevskaya station on the Kiev direction of the MZhD, where the MCD-4 route is planned to be opened.
“In this regard, safety packages were used during the works to level out the impact of the tunnelling on regular passenger train traffic,” Yuri Kravtsov clarified.
It should be recalled that the south-west section of the BCL is designed to improve transport services in the districts of Ochakovo-Matveevskoye, Ramenki, Prospekt Vernadskogo with a population of 200,000 people and a workforce of 50,000. It will reduce the travel time of passengers around the city by 10-15 minutes and provide interchange facilities, bypassing congested central stations and interchange hubs. In addition, the environmental situation in the districts will be improved by reducing traffic, including along Aminyevskoye Shosse, Udaltsova Street, Michurinskiy Prospekt and Vernadskogo Prospekt.
The Big Circle Line project is a key project in the capital’s metro development programme. There will be 31 stations along 70 km, making the BCL the largest underground circle line in the world.
