GRUBER Logistics manages abnormal loads for the Brenner Base Tunnel
South Tyrolean company Gruber Logistics has secured a major contract within the construction project for the Brenner Base Tunnel, set to connect Austria and Italy and become the longest underground railway connection in the world.
Together with other project partners, Gruber Logistics’ “Abnormal Loads” division handled both the transport of three “TBM” tunnel boring machines to be used for excavating the exploratory tunnel and the main railway tubes, and the handling of the components required to assemble the machines inside the tunnel.
The machines were tested during the winter at the manufacturer’s facility in Germany and subsequently dismantled and prepared for transport.
The first of the three machines, which will excavate the exploratory tunnel, has already been assembled and is currently located at the Mules construction site in South Tyrol.
Here, the tunnel is being excavated up to the state border, where it will connect to the section built in Austria.
The machine measures an impressive 80 m in length and requires a team of 15 people working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
“The transport phase of the tunnel boring machine components was particularly complex,” states Mr. Michael Gruber, Head of the Abnormal Loads Division. “Due to their massive weight and dimensions, they required the joint effort of several branches and departments across the Gruber Group.”
In fact, this involved around 160 transports per machine, for a total of 2,887 tonnes transported.
Their transport therefore required a dedicated study: the less challenging components were delivered via the Brenner Pass or through Switzerland.
For the heaviest ones, given the weight and dimension restrictions on German road networks leading to the site, the transport had to be split into several stages, requiring the collaboration of our Bremen branch specialised in sea freight: a first leg by river from Kehl to Antwerp, a second by sea to Marghera, before finally reaching the Mules site by road, using heavy haulage trucks.
The heaviest components of this transport were the two main drives of the TBMs, measuring 7090x6850x2600 mm and weighing 146 tonnes each.
Once delivered, the TBMs will be reassembled in dedicated assembly chambers inside the tunnel.