In early February, NFM Technologies, part of the Wirth Group, claimed a new world record for the advance rate of its 11.95m diameter TBM working on Line 9 of the Barcelona metro with an impressive 39m in a single day.
Less celebratory was the news that on 27 January a sinkhole associated with tunnel works for Barcelona’s Line 5 extension caused the collapse of buildings and the evacuation of 1,000 people. Two blocks of flats had to be demolished due to damage caused by the sinkhole 20m wide and roughly 30m deep.
