57.5 kilometers will be the length of the twin-tube Mont Cenis Base Tunnel, which will become the heart of the new rail link between Lyon (France) and Turin (Italy). The Lyon-Turin rail link is, in turn, part of the Trans-European Network - Transportation (TEN-T), a section of the Mediterranean Corridor linking southern Spain with Hungary.
The tunneling consortia commissioned by the client, the French-Italian project company "Tunnel Euralpin Lyon Turin (TELT)", have so far ordered five tunnelling machines from Herrenknecht. For Lot 2 "Saint Martin - Villarodin / Modane", Herrenknecht will supply three Single Shield TBMs (Ø 10,340 mm) each for 8,300 meters of driving through hard rock. For the neighboring lot 1 "Villarodin / Modane - Val Clara", two Gripper TBMs (Ø 10,430 mm) will be used, each boring 18,000 meters.
All three Single Shield TBMs were presented to the customer and client in Schwanau until the end of November 2023, followed by the two Gripper TBMs in December 2023 and February 2024.