Update:

  • At yesterday’s meeting the TTC approved a contract for four-tunnel boring machines to dig out the Spadina Subway extension.
  • The contract, worth approximately $58.5 million, was awarded to LOVAT Inc.
  • Herrenknecht Tunnelling Systems also responded to the RFP, but had a higher price tag, at just over $64 million.
 
Nice - High-tech TBMs manufactured in the City of Toronto by a Toronto-based company! A rarity nowadays.
 
The delivery of the TBM is 12-14 months for the first 2. This put them going in to the ground in Oct 2010, 4 months later than plan.

Staff has been asked to see what it would take to try to get delivery of the TBM faster and would that cost be off set by getting the work done sooner.

At the same time, these 5400mm TBM are only to be use on this project only and will be sold as $.30 on the dollar. Metrolinx see no need for these TBM on other project.

The question was asked if these TBM's can be use on other TC project and staff is to report back if they can and at what price.

TTC will need more than 4 TBM if all the current project get underway as plan.

At the end of the day, there are a number of unanswered questions surrounding the TBM as well if there any real vision by staff for the TBM's.
 
I remember when the TTC sold its Sheppard subway TBMs a few years ago. Not exactly a R.C. Harris moment of foresight, that one.
 
That's true, but let's say we had a culture where subways were always being built - not 20 km lines, but one or two station extensions every year. I'm sure we would have been able to save ourselves some money and they would have at least been useful for a couple more years.
 
Hipster Duck said:
That's true, but let's say we had a culture where subways were always being built - not 20 km lines, but one or two station extensions every year. I'm sure we would have been able to save ourselves some money and they would have at least been useful for a couple more years.
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Sure, but we didn't do that, nor was funding available from the province to have done that.

You need to be jumping up and down NOW to get EAs going so these 4 new TBMs have work to do in spring 2012 when they are finished the Spadina extension work.
 
rbt said:
Sure, but we didn't do that, nor was funding available from the province to have done that.

You need to be jumping up and down NOW to get EAs going so these 4 new TBMs have work to do in spring 2012 when they are finished the Spadina extension work.
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I'm willing to bet the Yonge extension project won't be ready for tunneling until then
 
Storage

Is there a reason they can't just put the TBMs in storage somewhere until they're needed for the Yonge extension? Surely the cost of warehouse space would be more economical than buying a whole new set...
 
Voltz said:
I'm willing to bet the Yonge extension project won't be ready for tunneling until then
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It they actually build the tunnels for Spadina, Eglinton, the DRL, Yonge, and the small sections on Pape, Sheppard, and Jane... they are probably going to need more tunneling machines. These four will be tied up doing Spadina 2010-2012 for 8.6km. The tunnel section on Eglinton is another 9km. There is about 0.8km section on Sheppard. About 2km on Jane. About 2km on Pape. About 6.5km on Yonge. About 11.5km on the DRL. That is all enough to tie things up for 10+ years. Will Yonge or the DRL wait until 2022?
 
EnviroTO said:
It they actually build the tunnels for Spadina, Eglinton, the DRL, Yonge, and the small sections on Pape, Sheppard, and Jane... they are probably going to need more tunneling machines. These four will be tied up doing Spadina 2010-2012 for 8.6km. The tunnel section on Eglinton is another 9km. There is about 0.8km section on Sheppard. About 2km on Jane. About 2km on Pape. About 6.5km on Yonge. About 11.5km on the DRL. That is all enough to tie things up for 10+ years. Will Yonge or the DRL wait until 2022?
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If TBM's are needed then they should just be bought, delaying a project to reuse them would probably end up costing more,

But eglinton won't be using the same size tunnels as spadina, twin tunnels or not. I don't think they would TBM that short section of sheppard, and all of pape should be part of the DRL.
 
Voltz said:
But eglinton won't be using the same size tunnels as spadina, twin tunnels or not.
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I disagree. They are building the tunneled sections to allow for the possibility of upgrade to a subway in the future, the track is the same gauge, and the LRT will need similar height in the tunnel. It would make no sense to build a different diameter of tunnel.
 
The Eglinton LRT discussion document on the TTC website even states that a 6m diameter will be used which seems to me to be a good size for a subway system. Ankara's subway used a 5m diameter with almost identical rolling stock to the TTC.
 
The 6m diameter is for the twin tunnel design. They're now considering the single tunnel concept - I think 13m diameter.
 
I am puzzled that a single 13-m tunnel is expected to be cheaper than two 6-m tunnels. The cross-section is 3.14 * D * D / 4, which gives 33 sq. m for the 13-m tunnel, versus 7 x 2 = 14 sq. m for two 6-m tunnels together. In other words, much more soil needs to be extracted for the 13-m tunnel.

There should be some saving from the fact that 13-m tunnel is large enough for station boxes, but does it offset the higher boring volume between stations?
 
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