Deutsche Bahn has announced that the tunnel boring machine (TBM) involved in an accident during the excavation of the Rastatt Tunnel in 2017 has been successfully dismantled.

The dismantling of the TBM will enable the continuation of tunnel’s excavation, with the central sub-project of the Karlsruhe-Basel expansion now entering its final phase.

Work has now resumed on the tunnel

© Deutsche Bahn

The TBM, which measured in at 90-metres-long, 2,000-tonnes, was dismantled across several stages. The machine was disassembled into segments weighing up to 70 tonnes before being removed from the tunnel.

Once removed, the tunnel’s excavation pit could be further excavated down to the future tunnel floor, allowing construction crews to finalise the tunnel shell.

Crews excavated a total of roughly 52,000 cubic metres of earth during the process, with the final expansion work of the tunnel now underway, including the installation of the final section of slab track, overhead line and signalling, lighting and communication systems.

The following months will see test runs, technical inspections of both structural and operational systems and safety exercises with firefighters and rescue services with an end goal of ensuring the tunnel is prepared for operation by the end of 2026.

The first trains on the new line are scheduled to run by the beginning of 2027.

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