Giant Tunnel Boring Machine Arrives in Madrid

The tunnel boring machine 'Mayrit' has arrived in Madrid to join the works for the expansion of Line 11 of the Metro. Last Tuesday, it arrived at the port of Santander and was then transported by road to Madrid, mainly at night. From now on, its assembly can extend until March 2026, meeting the deadline for starting to bore the tunnel between Plaza Elíptica and Conde de Casal. The transport was quite an odyssey. Disassembled into several pieces, the tunnel boring machine began its journey along the course of the Rhine River to reach Rotterdam, one of the largest and most active ports in Europe. With its 98 meters in length and 1,500 tons in weight, its transfer from the German city of Schwanau required millimeter-perfect logistics, due to the sheer size of the machine and the thousands of kilometers traveled, according to the Community of Madrid. The unloading took place at the port of Santander last Tuesday. From there, it was loaded onto a cargo ship that crosses the North Sea, traverses the English Channel, and continues across the Atlantic to reach the northern coast of Spain. A special transport convoy then traveled overland for more than 450 kilometers. With its 98-meter length, it will be able to bore up to 15 meters per day to connect Plaza Elíptica and Conde de Casal on Line 11. The gigantic machine left Germany on October 7th. «The Community of Madrid is advancing in the works of the largest Metro network expansion of the last decade and, with the objective of accelerating the construction, the tunnel boring machine Mayrit has just arrived in our region,» stated authorities. During the journey, the vehicles mainly traveled at night, accompanied by technical escorts that supervised every movement to ensure the equipment could maneuver without risk. «This is a project that is already 34% complete and in which we are investing 518 million euros». The machine, of the EPB (Earth Pressure Balance) type, has been specifically designed for the geotechnical and geological characteristics of the terrain on which it will be used, becoming a milestone in engineering, the Community of Madrid emphasizes.