Long Distance Tunnelling
Alpine peak performance
Underground infrastructure is the future – for sustainable mobility and efficient supply networks. As a global technology leader, Herrenknecht has been driving tunnel construction forward with innovative solutions for almost 50 years. With high-tech engineering, digital applications, and service expertise, we pave the way for efficient and sustainable underground projects.
Overcoming the Distance
Long-distance tunneling means major and diverse challenges—from technology and logistics to safety on the construction site, geology, and environmental protection. We face these challenges every day with high-end technology, excellent service, and unwavering determination.
Rock-hard rock
During the construction of the Brenner Base Tunnel, the Herrenknecht TBMs bored through quartz and slate in the Alps, achieving peak performance rates of up to 860 meters per month.
57 kilometers
Since it opened on June 1, 2016, the Gotthard Base Tunnel has been the longest railway tunnel in the world.
Longest tunnel in the world – 64 kilometers
Once completed, the Brenner Base Tunnel will be the longest underground railway connection in the world, replacing the Gotthard Base Tunnel (57 km).
Exploration
Preliminary geological explorations are crucial for selecting the optimal, safest tunnelling strategy and for the early detection of potential obstacles and fault zones – especially when tunnelling over long distances with variable geology.
23,243 meters
through gneiss, slate, and granite – Since 2022, Herrenknecht TBMs have been driving through the Alps to construct the second tube of the Gotthard Road Tunnel and several access tunnels.
Over 61 meters per day
was the best performance of the gripper TBM during the excavation of the geological exploration tunnel for the Brenner Base Tunnel.
18,000 meters
Each of the two Herrenknecht Gripper TBMs, with a diameter of 10.43 meters, is drilling 18,000 meters through hard rock on the Villarodin/Modane – Val Clarea section of the Mont Cenis Base Tunnel.
“The Brenner Base Tunnel is a once-in-a-century project and also extremely challenging from a technical standpoint. H53 Pfons-Brenner is the largest construction site in Austria.”
Karl-Heinz Strauss, CEO Porr AG
“Anyone who masters such a gigantic project stands at the pinnacle of infrastructure construction. The fact that the Swiss have placed their trust in Herrenknecht technology is the greatest recognition we could receive as a company.”
Dr.-Ing. E. h. Martin Herrenknecht, Chairman of the Board of Management
7,600 hp
With a combined output of 7,600 hp, 16 electric motors drive the cutter head of a Single Shield TBM during the construction of the Gotthard Road Tunnel.
Ø > 12 meters
The two Single Shield TBMs used to drive the second tube of the Gotthard Road Tunnel are among the giants of tunnel construction, with diameters of 12,310 mm and 12,255 mm.
200 meters and 1,800 tons
Length and weight of the Herrenknecht Gripper TBM, which successfully completed the 16.7-kilometer drive of the exploratory tunnel at the Brenner Base Tunnel.
5,000 tons
of rock per hour is the conveyor belt system’s capacity at the Brenner Base Tunnel.
190 trucks per hour
Without the conveyor belt system at the Brenner Base Tunnel, 190 trucks with a load capacity of 26 tons each would have to enter and exit the tunnel every hour to transport the excavated rock.
21.5 million m³
of excavated rock must be transported out of the mountain for the entire Brenner Base Tunnel project.
Renaturation
The excavated material from the Brenner Base Tunnel will be deposited in the Padaster Valley. As a result, the valley floor will be around 80 meters higher. The narrow V-shaped valley will be transformed into a wider area that can be used for forestry and grazing.
200 freight trains per day
The Brenner Base Tunnel shifts heavy goods traffic from road to rail, thereby permanently relieving congestion on the Brenner motorway. Instead of the 66 freight trains that currently struggle over the Brenner Pass every day, more than 200 freight trains per day will travel through the tunnel in the future.
“This is good news for the climate, namely a significant reduction in CO2 emissions,
and good news for the people of Tyrol.”
Leonore Gewessler, former Austrian Federal Minister for Climate, Environment, and Energy, on the Brenner Base Tunnel
29.8 kilometers in one go
In North Yorkshire, Great Britain, a Herrenknecht TBM is driving the longest tunnel section ever created by a single machine without interruption. The machine has not yet reached its destination – it will be 35.6 km long when it breaks through.
World record pace – 790 meters per month
The Herrenknecht TBM “Shiv” in India achieved the fastest advance rate ever recorded for a Single Shield TBM in hard rock.
World record pace – 790 meters per month
200 meters and 1,800 tons
5,000 tons of rock per hour is the conveyor belt system's capacity
Report
Mountain marathon below the Alps
With a whole series of alpine mega projects, Herrenknecht has helped to push the boundaries in infrastructure construction time and again – and new engineering milestones are already under construction.
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Further Issues
Exploring the Green
Tunnelling Technologies for today and the future.
Refining Circular Processes
Herrenknecht Separation Plants enable an ideal interaction between advance and separation operations.
Supersize structures for the next feasibility vision
Large-diameter tunnels offer the vision of high-performance infrastructure and require pioneering underground technology.
Re-connect our joined ingenuity
How do tunnel construction projects become faster, smarter, greener and safer?
EXTENDING THE TUNNELLING OPTIONS
Maximum safety in extremely complex subterranean soft ground: explore here the impressive options of a Variable Density TBM in inner-city tunnelling.
Teamwork into the depth
The mining experts of the Nezhinsky Mine in Belarus are currently rewriting mining history using a new type of shaft sinking technology.
Building up down under
Pioneering infrastructures are booming in Australia and New Zealand. Learn more about innovative traffic and utility tunnelling in Oceania.
Herrenknecht at bauma
Herrenknecht presented its extensive portfolio at four booths demonstrating where the journey in tunnelling is going.
TOGETHER IN EVERY DIMENSION
Find out how mechanized tunnelling from Herrenknecht shapes the world of tomorrow.
FOCUS ON PIPELINE
Along the lifeline pipeline. In any terrain.
Efficiently cross under tough
key sections.
HARD ROCK TUNNELLING
In rough environments, the realization of ambitious plans calls for straight solutions and outstanding performance.
EVERYTHING FLOWS
International championship alliance completes world class metro tunnel project in Doha in record time
THE BREAKTHROUGH REMANUFACTORY
Re-using premium technology calls for professional remanufacturing. This opens up new potentials for our industry.
PIONEERING UNDERGROUND TOGETHER
Bauma 2016: new dimensions in tunnelling
Connecting Continents
True teamwork and high tech from Herrenknecht unite Asia and Europe below the sea
Frontrunner
Technical progress for more efficient infrastructure
Services
Individual project solutions for reliable tunneling
Multi-Mode TBM
Trailblazing technology for all ground conditions