ACCIONA Construction, as part of the Line 1 Consortium with Odebrecht, has completed the tunnelling work for the Quito Metro, with the last of the three TBMs used on the project, “Luz de América”, the 9.36m diameter Herrenknecht EPBM, reaching the end of the line in the southern are of the city.
“Luz de América” began its work in April 2017 and has excavated more than 9km, from Solanda Station to its arrival at the El Arbolito exit shaft, passing through the historical city centre without damaging any of the city’s cultural heritage areas.
The “Luz de América” TBM also recorded the highest productivity levels for machines of this type, breaking the world record after drilling through 1,489.5m in just 30 days.
Tunnelling Journal newsletter
ACCIONA Construction used three Herenknecht EPBMs for the Quito Metro works, each one over 9m diameter, named “La Guaragua”, “La Carolina” and “Luz de América” respectively. These three machines have jointly constructed the more than 19.5km of segmentally lined tunnel through Silt, clay, tuff (of volcanic origin)for Line 1, all on time and within the required quality standards.
With 100% of the tunnelling work completed, the “Luz de América” TBM is expected to be dismantled in the coming days, following the same process as the other two.
The Quito Metro project is currently 75% complete overall. A total of 14.9km of track has been laid of the 45km that will make up Line 1. The foundations have also been laid at 14 of the 15 stations.
Quito Metro’s future Line 1, which is due to be completed by late 2019, will be 22.9 km long, from Quitumbe to El Labrador, and will have 15 stations, making it the backbone of Quito’s new public transport system.
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