On 18 April, NFM Technologies announced that it had been awarded the US$30M contract to supply two 11.38m diameter TBMs for a road tunnel in Wuhan, China.
The company, part of the Wirth group, will design, manufacture and commission two of its mud-pressure Benton’air type machines for the China Railway Tunnel Group. After delivery next year, the TBMs will be used to excavate a 2.4km long twin tube tunnel. A representative from NFM told T&TI that the geology was expected to be mainly sand, with some hard rock.
NFM will carry out the design studies and manufacture of some of the equipment. The balance of the components and machine assembly will be carried out by partner company Shenyang Heavy Machinery Group in China. New company, Shenyang Wirth TBM Corporation, formed by the collaboration between Wirth, NFM and the Chinese firm, had previously acknowledged the award at its launch (T&TI, April, p14).
