Tunnelling on the much delayed Genoa metro in northeast Italy should restart soon following delivery of a reconditioned Wirth TBM.
The machine was rescued from below ground after hitting a medieval ship’s iron anchor in September last year. The collision damaged the power units and transmission.
Emergency repairs to the gears allowed the machine to be taken to a 14m deep ventilation shaft which was widened to 6.8m by 10.5m to rescue the machine. The drive unit has since been with the manufacturer in Germany.
Contracting consortia MetroGenova has been working on repairs to the articulated shield; the front half is currently on the surface.
Delivery of the reconditioned drive units was expected at the end of October. "We then have to install it into the front shield section and lower the whole to the tunnel," said engineer Paolo Calmona from Metro Genova whose lead contractor is Impregilo. "After that we must re-attach the rear shield and reconnect all the electrical and power circuits," he said.
Allowing for trials on the rebuilt TBM he thinks that tunnelling will restart at the end of December, making a total 15 month delay, costing at least Lire 1.5bn ($700 000) The EPB type machine had already spent six years waiting mothballed in the ground, after completion of a first phase.
For the new drive it had bored just 220m of a total 1.5km link section for the city’s metro system. The twin bore single track tunnels, over 2.9km of tunnel in total, will link a section of metro built in the early 1990s with a future extension.
The metro is being built for Commune di Genova at a cost of Lire 270bn ($121M). Ansaldo, the construction manager, will oversee fit out and supply of rolling stock.
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Completed section of the metro
