The tunnel, with an internal diameter of 4m and an external diameter of 4.50m, replaces an existing cable tunnel that has reached the end of its service life.
“Efficient logistics for the continuous supply of tunnel segments and a high-performance separation plant made it possible to consistently utilize the tunnel boring machine’s high advance capacity,” said Tim Schellhammer, project manager at Herrenknecht. “The Multi Service Vehicle (MSV) supplied by Herrenknecht transported all six segments of a tunnel ring to the machine per trip. There, material for two tunnel rings could be stored on the segment feeder and for another tunnel ring on the rapid unloader.
"At the same time, the separation plant ensured that the chalk soil, which was transported away in a slurry suspension, was efficiently filtered out and that over 90 percent of the water used could be reused.”
The 45m-deep launch shaft in Tilbury on the north bank of the Thames was sunk using Europe’s largest vertical shaft sinking machine (VSM) with a diameter of 15.90m, as was the 48m-deep reception shaft in Gravesend on the south side of the river.
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