Polish General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways says the first 13 meters of the 2250 meter long two tube tunnel in Babica has been excavated by the Tunnel Boring Machine of the consortium of Mostostal Warsaw S.A. and Acciona Construccion S.A.

Yesterday the government site has released the following information in Polish and I am to blame for all translation mistakes.

The TBM machine (Tunnel Boring Machine) called the Karpatką hollowed out the first 13 m tunnel under the Grochowiczna hill. This is the first facility of this type built in our region. Today, media representatives could closely observe the work of TBM, the facilities of the machine and the progress of works on the construction of the S19 Rzeszów Południe - Babica expressway. 

The 2255 m tunnel will consist of two tubes, which will be connected by 15 transverse transitions and an additional emergency passage. Each of the tubes will have two lanes and an additional emergency lane. Technology, know -how and a tunnel drilling machine, which will be used during the construction of the S19 Rzeszów Południe - Babica section, was delivered by Acciona, a partner of Mostostal Warsaw.

Production of tunnel housing elements, so -called segments, takes place in the prefabrication hall directly at the construction site. It is located in Lutoryż, in a place where travelers will ultimately operate (MOP Lutoryż). The hall is equipped with a production line, four cranes (the largest capacity of 60 t) and a concrete node. Segments is a kind of cylindrical tunnel housing made of reinforced concrete. 10 connected segments forms a ring. Over 2230 rings will be used for the tunnel housing in Babica.

Maszna TBM will drill at a depth of over 100 meters. The Karpatka is 112 meters long and 15 meters wide. Her weight is 4400 tons. It has a hydraulic-electric drive and 12 engines, each with 1 megawaty. Weighing 400 tons, the cutting ring rotates at a speed of up to 3 rpm and has 471 drilling tools. The time needed to hollow one tunnel tubes is about 9 months (under favorable conditions). Then the machine will be reversed and begins to drill the next tunnel tubes. The time needed to reverse the machine is 3-4 months. Detection of methane In July 2023, during trial pumping aimed at reducing the water mirror for the needs of tunnel drilling with a TBM machine, gas was found. Gas appeared in 2 out of 44 wells.

In order to ensure the safety of staff working at the construction site, the contractor suspended the work related to trial pumping and drilling of other wells. The presence of methane was confirmed using the appropriate equipment in gas samples. Samples for laboratory tests were also taken, which also confirmed the presence of methane in water. It is also worth emphasizing that the occurrence of gas did not stop the work on S19. Construction work continued on the rest of this 10-kilometer section.

From the very beginning, a wide team of specialists worked on the solving of this problem both on the side of the contractor and the investor with whom the team of experts from the AGH University of Science and Technology from Krakow and the Higher Mining Office in Katowice and the District Mining Office in Krosno collaborated.

Due to the detection of methane, it was necessary to properly prepare the TBM machine for work in methane conditions. After analyzes carried out by mining experts, as part of the machine retrofitting, it was necessary, among others Installation of the sensor system on the machine detecting the presence of methane at the tunnel drilling stage and the installation of a modified ventilation system with increased efficiency enabling the tunnel ventilation and preventing methane accumulation inside the excavation. It was also necessary to replace some components for devices that could work under the conditions found.

All these works result from the provisions of the EU ATEX directive relating to devices and protective systems intended for use in a potentially explosive atmosphere, which requires that the devices and machines that work in an atmosphere threatening to ignite or explode methane have adequate protection, primarily sparking.

It is worth emphasizing that the process of drilling the tunnel is subject to the provisions of geological and mining law, and therefore the contractor developed a draft tunnel in methane hazard conditions, which has gained a positive opinion of the Commission for Threats at the Mining Plant at the Higher Mining Office in Katowice. Subsequently, Appendix 1 was developed to the T1 tunnel drilling plant. This supplement in April this year. Pursuant to the law, he was approved by the decision of the District Director of the Mining Office in Krosno, which formally allows the start of tunnel drilling.

Obtaining administrative decisions, retrofitting the TBM machine and positive test and test results allowed to start the work of Karpatka. The scope of work on the construction site S19 Rzeszów Południe - Babica

The contract is carried out by a consortium of Mostostal Warsaw S.A. and Acciona Construccion S.A. The contract was signed in July 2020, and in April 2022 construction works began. Completion of works is planned in January 2028.

As part of the investment, the Babica node will be built (trumpet node) located near the DK19 intersection from DW988. The scope of work also includes the construction of engineering facilities, including a 2.3 km long tunnel, six flyovers, two viaducts over the S19, a collision -free journey over the railway line along the existing DK19, three animal crossings and one pass to S19.

As part of the contract, the first Tunnel Management Center in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship will also be built. The investment also includes the construction of two travelers service places (MOPs): MOP Lutoryż (direction of Rzeszów and Barwinek) and two landing grounds for helicopters of the Air Ambulance Service (on the MOP Lutorize towards Rzeszów and at the Tunnel Management Center).

Currently, the contractor conducts robots in all industries, i.e. road, bridge and tunnel. In the road industry, the advancement of works is 57 percent. Earthworks (excavations and embankments) are carried out and structural layers are laid on the main route and additional roads. Bridge work is underway, whose advancement is 76 percent. The most advanced are robots at flyovers in Racławówka, Mogielnica and Lutoryż, where the load -bearing systems have already been made. Currently, works related to the equipment of facilities are underway. The southern portal of the tunnel was made in 100 %, and the north portal in 80 percent. The production of prefabricated segments of the tunnel housing is continued at the Prefabrykacja Plant.

https://www.gov.pl/web/gddkia-rzeszow/pierwsze-13-metrow-tunelu-w-babicy-wydrazone