The first tunnel‐boring machine (TBM) to excavate beneath the city of Lima, Peru has completed an initial 720m section of tunnel, breaking through at Lima Metro’s Future Line 2 Circunvalación Station.
The TBM, named Delia after the first Peruvian woman to earn a degree in mining engineering at Peru’s National University of Engineering, has a diameter of 10.27m.
She, along with a second TBM, will support the construction of 35 stations, 36 ventilation and emergency shafts and two train depots.
The project, which Webuild is building in consortium with local and European partners, is part of a sustainable mobility mega project valued at 3 billion USD (2.65bn euros).
Civil works includes the excavation of a 27-kilometre tunnel connecting Lima’s ATE and Callao districts, reducing commuting times from two hours to 45 minutes, and construction of a part of Lima metro’s planned Line 4.
Delia’s breakthrough was celebrated at an event attended by the Peruvian President Pedro Castillo and Transport Minister Juan Silva. They emphasised the social impact of the expansion of Lima’s metro system, which currently has just one line.
Their hope is that the metro’s expansion will play a significant role in helping improve mobility across the city, which is one of the most congested in the world.
In this first section, five trains with six cars each will be put into service. With each car able to transport a maximum of 200 people, at full capacity each train will be able to transport 1,200 people.
“People will have a faster commute, increasing their productivity and improving their income.”
