EPBs get ready for Moscow metro project

Contractor Engeocom purchased two 6.6 m Robbins EPBs. In addition, the contractor refurbished their pre-owned Lovat machine with a Robbins cutterhead and spare parts for a 2 km interstation tunnel. The refurbished machine launched in August 2012, and had progressed more than 265m by November 2012. The third 6.2m Robbins EPB was purchased by contractor USK MOST for a 1.9km section.

The Robbins EPBs will be launched from small shafts of 30m deep and 15m deep, respectively. The USK MOST EPB will also require a shortened launch setup from its shaft, with back-up gantries at the surface.

"Robbins has very nice people helping us with this, and good field service," said Vadim Bocharov, managing director, USK MOST. "The Robbins machine also has a very nice design; it is a world-class EPB machine. We think this machine has a better steel construction, and is more durable and powerful than we have seen in other TBM brands."

The metro development scheme calls for 150km of new metro lines within the next eight years. Once the three Robbins EPBs and the refurbished machine are underway, the machines will join dozens of other machines in the largest simultaneous construction by TBMs that has ever taken place in Moscow. Upon completion, the extended metro system is intended to alleviate traffic congestion and lower the average two-hour travel times that currently affect 12 million commuters.