Here are some pictures about the tunnel excavator Liebherr 944C used dig out the tunnels arround the world.
Nice pics! A sidetipping bucket on that Volvo would have made the work go much faster... Tunnels in those types of masses is a big security problem. A total concrete velwing is a must to bee 100% safe... Swedens railroad company has spent many years of trouble in Hallandsåsen.(and$$) If i remember right at least three main contractors has been there working...
Bah ... They are almost on schedule MKTEF! Current estimates are for a opening of the tunnel 19 years after their initial estimates and it only costs atleast 10 times as much The first contractor tried a tunnel drilling machine that were supposed to do 100meters per week. It got stuck after 17meters :Banghead It wasnt made to dig through the kinda material in that ridge .... And that contractor soon gave up turned the job over to Skanska who tried some fancy french produced chemical (Rhoca-Gil) to stop the leaking water (Which is the one of the huge problems they are facing) which some dead fishes and sick cows later turned out to be a small enviromental disaster and landed Skanska in court. Now the work is on again with Skanska-Vinci as contractor and after a rocky start (7 meters in 4 months!) the purpose built tunnel digger are making good progress. And good old fashioned concrate lining is used to keep the water out. Lessons learned ... Do your homework about the geology of the area you are tunneling through and hire some experts! To bad it took a (big) truckload of our tax money to figure that out. Let us see if they got the tunnel ready 2015 as they say they are .... To keep on topic: That Liebherr sure looks like one mean machine!
We need some Cat iron in here.. How bout a 328D LCR
328d lcr The Caterpillar 328D LCR originally is not a tunnel excavator. In the tunnel the excavator not just load the material, it makes the circle(that is way the digger stick is rotational) see picture All the best
I have to agree, that C@t is probably for coal stripping judging by the bucket. Have you got any more pictures inside the tunnel ?
I'll see if I can get some of the tunnelling machines on A3 project at Hindhead. If I can I'll share them here BTB
I didnt realise there are actually 3 of those machines at Hindhead. The article I've just seen in one of the trade mags the plant manager is highly complimental about the speed of response by Leibherr, but is of the opinion he sees them too often. :beatsme so there must be a few teething problems with em. A mate who is now on site says there is also an electric drive Atlas as a backup machine for use during service or breakdowns but no pictures :Banghead he is led to believe that the machines are eating alternators. I did find this link, which while it is not in the tunnel it shows the excavation, soil nailing and shotcreting preperation that was done before the tunnels started. Quite a bit of plant and some good pictures and an insight into an activity that many probably know nothing about. http://www.paulthurlow.co.uk/hindhead/ This one is a blog by a local resident that also has some very good pictures but again non inside the tunnel. http://www.a3tunnel.blogspot.com/