The FAST Consortium has announced that the ‘San’ah’ tunnel boring machine (TBM) has arrived at Salah Al-Din Station, completing 1.2km of its designated 5km stretch of work on Line 5 of the Riyadh Metro system in Saudi Arabia.
The drilling, which commenced on June 30 from the new headquarters of the Ministry of Education, will continue along the northern section of Line 5 until it reaches Riyadh Airport Roundabout.
Once there, it will meet the consortium’s second TBM – ‘Dhafrah’ – which was the first TBM to start drilling the Riyadh Metro project. This will mark the completion of the 12.9km tunnel that makes up Line 5.
The FAST consortium is one of three consortia commissioned by Arriyadh Development Authority to build the Riyadh Metro – the world’s largest public transport project. The consortium’s partners are FCC, Samsung C&T, Alstom, Strukton, Freyssinet Saudi Arabia, Atkins, Typsa and Setec.
FAST is constructing three of the six lines of the Riyadh Metro network, which together will span a distance of 72.5 km, including underground, ground level and elevated stations, and will operate 69 driverless trains at speeds of up to 80 km/h upon the launch of the project.
“We are committed to meeting our deadlines and we are proud that both our Metro TBMs have been the first in their achievements – Dhafrah being the first to be launched and San’ah the first to break through in the Riyadh Metro Project,” said Ian Redmayne, Atkin’s project director for FAST Consortium.