the essential
To dig the 22 km underground of the 3rd Toulouse metro line with a view to opening at the end of 2028, Tisséo has programmed five tunnel boring machines. Four are now in office and the fifth is arriving.
Two enormous metal pieces appeared this Wednesday on the site of the future Ponts-Jumeaux station of the 3rd metro line. These are the two key parts of the fifth and final tunnel boring machine used to dig the 22 kilometers underground: the “cutting wheel” with a diameter of more than 9 meters and a weight of 87 tonnes and the “drive” , the mechanism which drives the wheel and weighs 110 tonnes.
It remains to assemble the tunnel boring machine, called Lise Enjalbert, with a view to its start-up scheduled for December. Lise Enjalbert must dig 4.2 km to the Saint-Sauveur well, an emergency well located at the level of the airport runways. In the meantime, the machine will pass under the side canal, the ring road and the Garonne via the future Sept-Deniers and Blagnac stations.
Four giants already in office
The arrival of Lise Enjalbert is a new important step in the calendar of the largest construction site in the history of Toulouse. Today, four of the giant tunnel boring machines are in operation.
The kick-off was given in Montaudran on August 6. Since then, this tunnel boring machine, Marguerite de Catellan, has even reached the first station, Ormeau. The Jeanne Marvig tunnel boring machine started from Colomiers on September 9. He was closely followed by that of Raisin, Marie-Thérèse de Villeneuve-Arifat, who is drilling in the direction of the Saint-Sauveur well. This week, Berthe de Puybusque set off from La Vache towards Les Ponts-Jumeaux. The latter must be returned to its starting point for a second section to Raisin.
The tunnel boring machine Lise Enjalbert, whose first parts arrived on Wednesday, left the Thieux site on October 21 where it was stored by Eiffage after digging part of the Grand Paris Express. He made his journey by road and river, says Tisséo.
The entire tunnel must be dug by 2026. This will then be followed by the installation of the rails and the automatic system as well as the development of the stations for the tests scheduled for 2028.
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