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Something is happening in Frankfurt's underground - The light rail to the Europaviertel is taking shape

20.01.2018 | 10:34 Clock | Citywhispers
Something is happening in Frankfurt's underground - The light rail to the Europaviertel is taking shape

One of Frankfurt's major construction projects is taking on ever clearer shape. This became clear in a particularly impressive way at a press event last Thursday. Here, the Herrenknecht company presented the Frankfurt tunnel boring machine that will be used to bore the underground tubes into the Europaviertel. In the future, the U5 subway will run through these tubes into the Europaviertel. The managing director of Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main (VGF), Michael Rüffer, the managing directors of Stadtbahn Europaviertel Projektbaugesellschaft (SBEV), Wendelin Friedel and Florian Habersack, as well as representatives of the U5 Europaviertel working group (ARGE) took a full-size look at the machine.

"It is impressive to see such a machine in its entirety and to walk around it. It's hard to imagine that this colossus will soon be on the move in Frankfurt's underground," said VGF Managing Director Michael Rüffer during the acceptance test at the manufacturer's plant in Schwanau, Baden.

No wonder that not only Rüffer was impressed. After all, the "S1127", as the Herrenknecht machine is officially known, has a length of more than 80 meters and a weight of around 580 tons. The use of such a colossus is truly not an everyday occurrence, even in a city like Frankfurt, which is riddled with construction sites. With a Formula 1-caliber output of 1305 hp, the machine will work its way through Frankfurt's soil. The cutting wheel is located at the head of the machine for this purpose. It has a diameter of 7.1 metres and is a special design, specially adapted to the conditions of the Frankfurt soil. Approximately 100 peeling blades and 29 cutting rollers work their way through the earth on the cutting wheel. The machine covers a distance of 850 meters per tunnel tube - a little more than two laps around a sports field.

With the extension of the U5 line beyond the main station to the west, the new and expanding district will receive an efficient connection to the urban public transport network. The deepest point of the future tunnel - the new construction branches off underground from the existing line at Platz der Republik - is 22 meters below the surface.

SBEV Managing Director Wendelin Friedel said of the planned construction method: "In the course of Frankfurt's subway construction, a partially mechanized shield tunneling machine has been used twice so far, virtually the predecessor of this machine. A first now is the use of a fully automated tunnel boring machine, which we are all very excited about." The machine will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

According to the plan, the tunnel boring machine will start its work for the underground route from the starting excavation pit - Europa-Allee, at the height of Stockholmer Straße - in an easterly direction to the connecting structure at Platz der Republik in the second half of 2018. The area between the Skyline Plaza underground car park access road and the Emser Bridge will serve as a storage and transport area during the tunnel construction work, before the tunnel section and ramp there are built using the cut-and-cover method, i.e. in an open excavation pit. The ambitious construction is in the hands of ARGE U5 Europaviertel, which consists of two companies: PORR Deutschland GmbH and Stump Spezialtiefbau GmbH. It is responsible for the construction of the underground section and the shell of the Güterplatz underground station located in this section.

However, the use of the heavy equipment is not the start of the construction work, this is already underway. Currently, in the eastern part of Europa-Allee, the walls of the launch pit for the tunnel boring machine now presented are being constructed, followed by the excavation of the pit itself, which is around 18 metres deep. In the area of the future underground station, the walls of the excavation pit will also be built. But only after both tunnel tubes have been completed in the shell - in the language of the miners one speaks of "driving up" - can the construction pit of the station be excavated. As things stand at present, the excavation of the two tunnel tubes will take about twelve months. Added to this is the time needed to assemble the tunnel boring machine and withdraw it from the first tube and move it to the second, as the two tunnels are being bored one after the other.

In 2020, construction work is scheduled to begin on the above-ground section and the extension of the tunnel under the Europagarten, the shell of which has already been completed. Completion of construction work on the approximately 2.7-kilometre-long line with a total of four new stations - three of which are above ground - is scheduled for the end of 2022.

Since "S1127" will play a central role in construction, but the name doesn't really have a nice ring to it, the Frankfurt machine is to be given a proper name - as is customary with tunnel construction projects. Traditionally, this is a female first name, which is found in various ways: Some machines are simply christened by the miners, others with public participation. The Frankfurt machine is to be given a melodious name as part of a public competition. Suggestions can be submitted in writing now by email to <link>TVM@sbev-frankfurt.de or by post to SBEV GmbH, Mainzer Landstrasse 191, 60327 Frankfurt. The closing date for entries is Friday, 1 June 2018.

From the entries, a jury consisting of the transport department, VGF management, SBEV management and VGF corporate communications will select the name. The winner can look forward to an exclusive visit to the Frankfurt tunnel boring machine, which, according to current planning, will start work in the second half of 2018

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