After a gap of four years, and a couple of months on from the originally proposed schedule, a second TBM has been shipped by NFM technologies to work on the metro in Kazan, in the Republic of Tatarstan.
The manufacturer won the order for the 5.89m diameter EPBM last year from the city’s metro developer, Kazmetrostroy. Then, the original programme aimed at a June delivery to the republic in the Russian Federation (T&TI, October 2008, p8).
NFM said the foam-injection shield, which is to be used on Line 1 of the metro, was to be despatched at the beginning of this month for arrival on site by late September. The formal acceptance of the TBM took place at the Le Creusot plant, in France, last month.
The EPBM will be used to bore a single, 2km long tube through sand and sandy clay on Line 1, also called the Central Line, between Kozya Sloboda and Moskovskaya stations. The new, twin tube section is to be opened by 2011.
In 2004, NFM supplied a 5.89m diameter refurbished shield to Kazmetrostroy.
