After more than 6 months of construction, on the morning of March 7, the "lightning-fast" TBM tunnel boring machine officially arrived at Cat Linh S10 station.

The "lightning-fast" TBM was the first to start construction in package CP03 - tunnels and underground stations of the Nhon - Hanoi station metro line project, starting from station S9 Kim Ma from July 30, 2024.

After more than 6 months of safe operation, the machine has completed drilling and installing the tunnel lining with a length of more than 1,338m to reach Cat Linh S10 station.

Mr. Nguyen Ba Son, Deputy Head of Hanoi Railway Management Board (MRB), said that TBM No. 2 started working from S9 station (Kim Ma station) on February 3. It is expected that both TBMs will complete the entire tunnel boring work by the end of 2025.

The underground tunnel digging robot of the Nhon-Hanoi Metro line has reached Cat Linh station. Photo: T. Dung

After finishing drilling at S12 station - Hanoi station, the drilling head of the TBMs will be dismantled at this station, the auxiliary equipment system will be pulled back and dismantled at S9 Kim Ma station.

According to Mr. Son, the TBM's "lightning-fast" arrival at Cat Linh S10 station is an important step forward for the project, a milestone that brings the project closer to the goal of completing the underground section to serve the people of the capital. As of March 2, the overall construction progress of the CP03 package - tunnels and underground stations reached 55.38%.

Engineers discuss during underground construction. Photo: T. Dung

The Hanoi Urban Railway Management Board pledges to continue to closely coordinate with relevant parties to complete the next items, aiming to put the entire project into operation as soon as possible.

According to the plan, the underground section will be completed in 2027, after which the entire urban railway line No. 3, Nhon - Hanoi station section will be put into operation, contributing to changing the appearance of the capital, conveniently connecting areas and promoting sustainable development, greening urban transport.

More than 100 employees operate the robot. Photo: T. Dung

The pair of TBMs were specially designed for the urban railway project No. 3, Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station section. The machine is over 100m long and weighs about 850 tons. The total number of personnel for the construction work is over 150 people.

The TBM operates in a closed cycle, digging at a maximum speed of 60mm/min. After digging, the robot will install the tunnel lining right behind the machine with a modern robot arm. The time to install the tunnel lining is about 30-35 minutes for a tunnel segment consisting of 6 pieces. The digging and installing cycle takes place continuously.

The Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station urban railway line is 12.5km long, with 8 elevated stations and 4 underground stations. Of which, the Nhon - Cau Giay elevated section is 8.5km long, the Cau Giay - Hanoi Railway Station underground section is 4km long.

The project started in 2009 and the Nhon - Cau Giay elevated section will be put into operation in 2024.

According to the plan by 2030, the capital will have 10 urban railway lines with a total length of 417km, of which 342km will be elevated and 75km will be underground. Currently, only the 13km Cat Linh - Ha Dong line is in commercial operation after 10 years of construction. The Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station line will run an 8.5km elevated section after 15 years of construction, and the remaining 4km underground is expected to be completed by 2027. The remaining 8 lines have not yet started construction.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/robot-dao-ham-ngam-tuyen-metro-nhon-ga-ha-noi-den-ga-s10-cat-linh-2378383.html