Christening of the first Liefkenshoek TBM

12 February 2010 - Projects update and handover - Belgium

The first of the two pressurized-mud tunnel boring machines built for the Liefkenshoek railway tunnel project in Antwerp (Belgium) was baptised on 5 January.
Named Schanulleke (after a character in the Belgian comic strip Suske & Wiske), it will drive one of the project’s two tunnels (inside diameter: 7.3 m; length: 5.9 km). The second TBM, Wiske, arrived on site on 19 January and will be christened early in March. The Liefkenshoek project involves the financing, design-build and maintenance, for 38 years, of a 16.2 km long, dual-track railway infrastructure, passing beneath the River Escaut to link the north and south banks of the port of Antwerp. It is intended for use by freight trains.
The contract was signed in November 2008 by the consortium composed of VINCI Concessions, CFE (VINCI Construction) and BAM PPP. Valued at €680m, the works are being supplied by VINCI Construction Grands Projets, MBG (CFE) and two companies from the Dutch group Royal BAM, with the participation of Soletanche Bachy and its subsidiary Fontec, both Soletanche Freyssinet (VINCI Construction) entities.