The tunneling shield ‘Liliya’ has completed a 1226-metre long double-track tunnel
“All tunnelling work on the Big Circle Line (BCL) of the Moscow Metro has been completed”, informed Andrey Bochkarev, Deputy Mayor of Moscow on Urban Planning and Construction.
Mosinzhproekt Engineering Holding is a general designer and general contractor to construct new lines and stations of the Moscow metro.
“The 10-metre diameter TBM ‘Liliya’ has completed a 1226-metre long double-track tunnel between the future Nagatinsky Zaton station and the Klenovy Bulvar station of the metro BCL, the work was carried out in water-filled sand and clay,” said Andrey Bochkarev.
According to the Deputy Mayor, the last tunnel of the Big Circle Line of the metro has been covered, which provides the tunnelling of the BCL to be fully completed.
“It is symbolic that the final tunnelling of the Big Circle Line was carried out by the very first 10-metre TBM involved in the construction of the Moscow Metro. The ‘Liliya’ tunnel boring machine has already passed the running lines from the Kosino to the Okskaya stations of the Nekrasovskaya Line with a 3.7 km total length and linked Mnyovniki, Terekhovo and Kuntsevskaya opened this year in the west of the BCL along over 3 km,” stressed Andrey Bochkarev.
Yuri Kravtsov, General Director of Mosinzhproekt JSC, recalled that the use of 10-metre tunnel boring machines to construct double-track tunnels has the advantage of saving labour and time. This technology is also used when tunnelling under water bodies or park areas, where there are certain restrictions on the location of sites to construct additional tunnel structures or ventilation chambers.
“The western section from the Mnyovniki to the Davydkovo stations has been passed using tunnel boring machines on the Big Circle Line. Double-track tunnels have been constructed in the east of the line from Tekstilshchiki to the transfer chamber between Klenovy Bulvar and Kashirskaya. The stations of these sections are built with side platforms, not island platforms,” specified Yuri Kravtsov.
Among these stations, he named the already open Terekhovo, Kuntsevskaya and Davydkovo stations, and stations under construction such as Tekstilshchiki, Pechatniki, Nagatinsky Zaton and Klenovy Bulvar.
The Big Circle Line is the most significant project in the history of Moscow metro engineering. The length of the BCL will exceed 70 km, and it will accommodate 31 stations, 22 of which are already servicing the passengers. The new circle line will unite the remote areas of the city and cut travel time in half.
Recall that the tunnelling of the last tunnel of the Big Circle Line (BCL) between the Nagatinsky Zaton and the Klenovy Bulvar stations was completed on 29 December.
“The tunnelling of the biggest in the world metro circle line is complete. The total length of metro lines (one-way) is 143 km. It’s a large amount of work. There is a entire city beneath the city. “I wanted to thank the builders for the exploit they made, having done such a tremendous job,” stressed Sergei Sobyanin, Mayor of Moscow.
