Hanoi metro excavator arrives from Germany

Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board (MRB) said Monday the parts had arrived at Hoang Dieu Port in northern Hai Phong City, around two hours east of Hanoi, last month.

It estimated the assembly of parts into an excavator would take two months, so that drilling on the Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station route tunnel, Hanoi’s second metro line, can start in January.

The machine was manufactured by German firm Herrenkecht based on the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) method. It stretches more than 100 m, weighs over 850 tons and has a rotating cutting wheel with a diameter of 6.55 m.

As designed, the machine could drill 10 meters of tunnel per day.

According to MRB, the complex apparatus includes a cutting rotor, propulsion cylinder and waste (including soil and rocks) transportation system, hence the time it would take to move and assemble it.

To transfer the components down to S9, the first of four underground stations on the Nhon – Hanoi Railway Station route along Kim Ma Street in Dong Da District, MRB will employ cranes with a loading capacity of 500 tons to move them one by one.

After reaching S9, all components will be assembled to commence work on the four kilometer underground section of the route, named Metro Line No. 3 of Hanoi though it is currently only the second in the city to start construction after Cat Linh-Ha Dong.

The Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station route runs 12.5 km from Nhon in western Nam Tu Liem District through Kim Ma Street to the downtown city railway station.

It will run 8.5 km on elevated tracks, with the rest of the route underground. The line carries a total investment of VND33 trillion ($1.42 billion), sourced mainly from official development assistance (ODA).

On October 20, the line had welcomed its first train from France.

As planned, the elevated section of the route will start commercial operation late next year and the underground section a year later to hopefully reduce traffic congestion and air pollution across the west of Hanoi.