LIFTING/CONVEYORS | TECHNICAL


HEAVY MOVES


TBMs on tunneling projects are supported by major lifting capacity and conveyor capability T&T looks at a few of the recent sights of TBM lifting


Tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are a major focus of attention as one of the main methods of tunnel excavation and they are also mighty sights when being built and then employed on underground projects, but they can only come to be there and perform their tasks with the support of significant transport ability, lifting capacity and conveyor capability. Whether on sites within congested large cities or


coastal zones, or in open but rolling countryside or farther afield in high, harsh and remote mountainous environments, the TBMs need significant transport endeavours and then assembly power to get prepared and set to bore, getting their main work underway. And, when underway, what they muck out needs to


be efficiently and effectively removed from the TBM face, often by conveyor.


and conveyors on major tunnel projects: ● The Herrenknecht machine and logistical support for the Hampton Roads-Bridge Tunnel (HRBT) Expansion project, in Virginia, in the US


● One of the machines being moved between drives on HS2 project, in the UK


● Various vertical conveyors in shafts and use of TBM ‘first time’ assembly on some projects with Robbins equipment.


HRBT Here, on these pages, there is the lift of the large cutterhead for the single variable density TBM that will drive twin tunnels between islands for the HRBT project, and shafts.


Fall 2023 | 13


Above:


Aerial view of cranes and conveyors at TBM launch site for HRBT project, US PHOTO CREDIT: VDOT


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