Quito TBMs ready for delivery

8 September 2016


Ecuador - Herrenknecht announced September 5 it finished the construction of two TBMs in Schwanau, Germnay, which will soon be delivered for Metro de Quito in Ecuador.

The mayor of Quito, Mauricio Rodas, visited for the technical acceptance with representatives of contracting joint venture Acciona/Odebrecht and client Quito Metro. The two EPBMs have 9.36m diameters and will tunnel at depths of 20-25m below the city.

Quito’s new metro Line 1 will run more than 20km through the capital city, at an altitude of more than 2,800m above sea level. The tunnel lengths are 8,180m and 9,053m.

The TBMs are expected to start mining from the spring of 2017 through volcanic ground conditions of silt clay and tuff.

The new rail system is an important step in the modernization of the metropolis and in the future will transport more than 350,000 passengers daily.