In April 2019, the tunnel boring machine (TBM) Flavia began its journey in construction lot H61 Mauls. This is a 200-meter-long and 2,750-ton TBM that is drilling through the mountains with a power of 4,200 kW. The TBM has currently excavated around 13.3 km of the 14.3 km long main tunnel west.
The TBM’s advance work in the Brenner Base Tunnel is not only a demanding engineering challenge, but also a journey through the various rock layers of the Alpine mountains. The TBM Flavia, for example, works its way through the rock 1,200 meters below the earth’s surface and has to master challenging situations.
But she is not just drilling through the mountain. Like her twin sister Virginia, who completed her journey through the main east tube on March 30, 2023, Flavia also fulfills another important task: During the tunneling process, she is also installing the inner shell of the BBT. This consists of prefabricated concrete elements, so-called segments, which ensure the stability and safety of the one-way infrastructure.
Next stop – Brenner: last kilometer of advance in the west tunnel
The segments used by the TBM Flavia come from the Hinterrigger plant, where the production of the precast concrete elements for the Brenner Base Tunnel was completed on September 19th.
Over the last seven years, more than 218,000 precast concrete parts have been manufactured here. Around 30 percent of the excavated material from the Mauls construction site was reused for concrete production.
“The TBM Flavia only has one more kilometre to excavate. As soon as Flavia has reached Zeil, the excavation work in the main tunnel tubes on the Mauls construction site will be completed,” explains Alessandro Marottoli, process manager for the Mauls 2-3 construction lot.
In addition to Flavia, four other tunnel boring machines are currently in use on the Brenner Base Tunnel project: Ida (construction lot H41 Sillschlucht-Pfons, main tunnel west towards the south), Lilia (construction lot H41, main tunnel east towards the south), Wilma and Olga (construction lot H53 Pfons-Brenner, main tunnel west and east towards the north).
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