First 9km of the Turin-Lyon base tunnel completed

The first section of the Turin-Lyon base tunnel is completed: today TBM Federica has ended its journey, achieving breakthrough in La Praz. Federica has started boring in late 2016 from Saint-Martin-la-Porte, reaching production peaks of 30 meters a day and completing up to 570 mts of excavation in its best months.

This is an important stage for the work, designed for the passage of freight and passenger trains, which has been celebrated by all the workers involved in the construction of the infrastructure. As is tradition in underground works, the miners passed the baton to a young colleague who will continue to work on the base tunnel.

The Saint Martin-la-Porte section includes an 8.7km long tunnel, accessed through a 1.8km long adit from the main town, excavated with conventional methods. The contract section overall extends for 10.3km and has been finalized with internal lining of more than 46.600 precast segments.