Today is the International Tunneler's Day, also known as Saint Barbara's Day. It is believed that she patronizes tunnelers and miners, as well as everyone who builds underground objects. The tradition of giving female names to tunnel-boring complexes is connected precisely with this saint. The most famous shield, Claudia, which has 12 penetrations, is located in Mosmetrostroy. It is symbolic that on these days “Claudia” celebrates 21 years since its first sinking.
General Director of Mosmetrostroy JSC Sergei Zhukov noted that the company, created in 1931, is the alma mater of all Soviet tunnelers and, accordingly, metro and tunnel builders of all countries of the former Soviet Union.
– Mosmetrostroy tunnel engineers made a huge contribution to the construction of the Moscow Metro and the subways of the largest cities in Russia and the capitals of the former Union republics. The first line of the capital's metro was built by the organization's specialists in record time and put into operation on May 15, 1935. Over 92 years, the Mosmetrostroy team has built and reconstructed over 200 metro stations and laid more than 600 km of tunnels in Moscow alone,” said Sergei Zhukov.
Among the outstanding engineers is Yuri Koshelev, Hero of Socialist Labor, who led Mosmetrostroy for 17 years, and made an invaluable contribution to the development of domestic metro construction, in particular to improving methods for tunneling in unstable and water-saturated soils. Currently, the technologies proposed by Koshelev are widely used in the construction of the metro.
The famous tunnel builder Sergei Elgaev, the author of more than 50 scientific papers, 12 patents and inventions, laureate of the State Prize of Russia, headed the Board of Directors of Moscow Metrostroy. As a result of the technical proposals he developed for the use of TBMs and conveyor transport of soil, record speeds of penetration were achieved - 704 meters per month of the finished tunnel.
Today, Mosmetrostroy has more than 1.2 thousand units of equipment in its arsenal. The main asset is mechanized tunnel boring complexes: five TBMs and one vertical boring machine (VSM), of which there are only three in Russia. Thanks to the use of TBMs, 350-400 meters of finished tunnel are constructed per month. If you use manual labor using combines, it is 60-80 meters. That is, the speed of work execution increases significantly.
For the first time in the Moscow metro construction, a tunneling shield was used in the early 1990s - during the construction of the Dubrovka - Kozhukhovskaya section of the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line. For tunneling, a German mechanized shield with a Herrenknecht hydraulic load was used.
In addition, in Mosmetrostroy there is the most famous tunneling shield - “Claudia”, named after the wife of the outstanding head of Mosmetrostroy Yuri Koshelev. The LOVAT 242 RME TBM has been operating the longest in metro construction – since 2002. This is the only Mosmetrostroy shield that has never changed its name.
Over the years of work, “Clavdia” managed to work on many lines of the capital’s subway. It has 12 penetrations: running tunnels on the section “Starokachalovskaya Street” - “Skobelevskaya Street” of the Butovskaya line, “Krylatskoye” - “Strogino” (point “D”), “Strogino” - “Myakinino” of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line, “Krasnogvardeiskaya” - “Alma-Atinskaya” of the Zamoskvoretskaya line, collector tunnel under Shmitovsky Proezd, towards the Moscow City business center.
In addition, “Klavdia” built four running tunnels on the northern section of the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line:
● left tunnel from Seligerskaya to Verkhniye Likhobor;
● left tunnel from the dead ends behind the Seligerskaya station to the Lianozovo station;
● right tunnel from the dead ends behind the Seligerskaya station to Yakhromskaya;
● right tunnel from Yakhromskaya to Lianozovo.
– The total length of the tunnels constructed by the Claudia TBM is over 14 km. Today, the shield is being rehabilitated for the purpose of new penetrations, wherever they are planned,” noted Sergei Zhukov.
Congratulations to all metro and tunnel builders on their professional holiday! We wish you production success in the development of the Construction complex of Russia and the education of a new generation of tunnel engineers!