Prime Sponsors

Herrenknecht is the technology and market leader in the area of mechanized tunnelling systems. As the only company worldwide, Herrenknecht delivers cutting-edge tunnel boring machines for all ground conditions and in all diameters – ranging from 0.10 to 19 meters.

The Herrenknecht product range includes tailor-made machines for transport tunnels (Traffic Tunnelling) as well as for supply and disposal tunnels (Utility Tunnelling). Herrenknecht develops innovative technical solutions to sink vertical shafts down to great depths as well as to successfully excavate sloping shafts.

Under the umbrella of the Herrenknecht Group, a team of innovative specialists has formed to provide integrated solutions around tunnel construction with project-specific equipment and service packages upon request: these include separation plants, conveyor belt systems, navigation systems, rolling stock systems and segment moulds right up to turnkey lining segment production plants.

With more than 3,200 members of staff worldwide and more than 60 subsidiaries and associated companies, Herrenknecht is able to provide a comprehensive range of services close to the project site and the customer.

In 2010, the breakthrough at the Gotthard Base Tunnel on Oct. 15th, 2010 marks the most significant milestone on the way to completing the longest tunnel in the world. Four Herrenknecht Gripper TBMs excavated more than 85km of the main tunnel tubes.

In Italy, the Herrenknecht S-574 EPB Shield will install two 2.5m tubes for the Sparvo Tunnel, extending the A1 highway between Bologna and Florence. With an excavation diameter of 15.62 meters, it’s the largest tunnel boring machine ever built.

In Singapore the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is realizing the expansion of the metro network. In the construction Phase of Downtown Line Phase 2 ten Herrenknecht TBMs are being employed in mixed ground conditions to meet the tight overall time schedule. Not only the extension of metro systems, also the implementation of high speed railway networks like the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link in China – for which Herrenknecht will be providing 6 TBMs - are attracting great interest. This is also the case for the two-tube Hallandsås railway tunnel in Sweden: in one of the most difficult tunnel projects in the world, the jobsite team celebrated breakthrough at the eastern tube in August 2010 using the convertible Herrenknecht Mixshield S-246 (Ø 10.53m).

(Source: ITA-AITES Tribune #40, May 2011, ITA "Prime Sponsors" report 2010)