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Tel Aviv metropolitan Metro to start tunnelling next month
Minrav Group will build a 35-metre shaft from which a tunnel boring machine can begin digging the M2 line.
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Tunnelling for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area's Metro project is set to begin next month, marking one of the most significant stages yet in the vast underground transport scheme, Globes reports. The Minrav Group has won the tender to construct the first transport shaft of the M2 line, the point from which a tunnel boring machine will be launched to begin digging the tunnels.
The transport shaft is a complex engineering undertaking that involves excavating a pit about 35 metres deep, roughly the height of a 12-storey building. Construction of the shaft is scheduled to begin next month, after which a special crane will lower the tunnel boring machine into position to start excavation. Globes reports that the full project will eventually operate 24 boring machines simultaneously.
The 26-kilometre M2 line will include 22 stations, connecting Petah Tikva, Givat Shmuel, Bnei Brak, Givatayim, Tel Aviv and Holon, and is planned to serve more than 500,000 passengers a day. Along the route are major demand centres including Bar-Ilan University, the Tel Aviv HaShalom and Ministry of Defence headquarters, Habima Square, the Carmel Market and the Wolfson Medical Center. Initial works will begin in the Kfar Ganim area of Petah Tikva.
According to Globes, NTA, the government company responsible for mass-transit infrastructure in the Tel Aviv metropolitan region, described the start of shaft construction as a significant step toward building a Metro that is intended to change the face of transport in Israel and improve the quality of life of millions of residents by letting them travel more quickly and efficiently.
The Metro is being developed to work alongside the light-rail lines already operating or under construction across greater Tel Aviv. Because the network runs deep underground, the tunnelling phase is among the most technically demanding and closely watched parts of the build.
The start of shaft construction does not by itself resolve the questions of cost and timetable that have accompanied the Metro programme, but it does move the project from planning and procurement toward physical excavation, a concrete signal that Israel's largest-ever infrastructure scheme is advancing across the Tel Aviv region.
Sources: globes.co.il.