The construction of the second Gotthard tunnel is reaching an important milestone. A Herrenknecht tunnel boring machine has achieved the decisive breakthrough in the northern section. The German tunneling company Herrenknecht from Schwanau is thus once again demonstrating its technological leadership in major tunnel projects.
The second Gotthard tunnel runs parallel to the existing 57-kilometer-long base tunnel, which has been in operation since 2016. The new construction is intended to increase the capacity of the European North-South corridor and enable maintenance work on the existing tunnel. For tunnel builders, the project is considered a technical challenge: alternating rock formations, high water pressure, and tight tolerances in the advance control characterize daily work.
Over the past decades, Herrenknecht has established itself as the dominant manufacturer of tunnel boring machines. The machines from the Baden-Württemberg company were already used in the first Gotthard tunnel. In other European infrastructure projects too – from the Brenner Base Tunnel to the metro in Copenhagen – the German machines are in continuous operation.
Details about the machine used have not yet been published. In major projects of this kind, gripper TBMs with a boring diameter of between 9 and 12 meters are typically used. The advance performance ranges from 10 to 30 meters per day depending on geology. For clients, what matters is: downtimes and maintenance intervals. Modern Herrenknecht machines achieve availability of over 85 percent of total operating time.
The breakthrough in the northern section does not mark the end of the project. Construction work, installation of safety systems, and extensive testing still lie ahead. Tunnel construction remains a long-distance marathon – even for machine manufacturers. Maintenance, spare parts logistics, and technical support determine economic success over many years.
For the European construction machinery industry, Gotthard is a flagship project. Those who successfully deliver here have a solid reference for future infrastructure mega-projects. And the pipeline is full: Lyon-Turin, Fehmarnbelt, Northern approach to the Brenner – everywhere drilling equipment and TBMs are needed for billion-euro projects.
