Excavation has begun on Scandinavia's longest rail tunnel in Norway, as part of the Follo Line project, a rail project aimed at connecting Oslo and Ski via a double-track high-speed line.
The infrastructure will consist of two twin tunnels, each 18 kilometers long. The following will be used to excavate these tunnels: four tunnel-boring machines, each weighing 2,400 metric tons. These are designed to drill through hard rock.
Each of the tunnel boring machines used in this project has a length of 150 meters and a about 8.75 m in diameter. Two of these will begin excavation heading north toward Oslo, while the other two will head south toward Ski.
The power of these tunnel boring machines is 6,200 kW, y They will excavate about 13 meters a day.
Trains will be able to travel through the tunnel at speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour.
Tunnel excavation is scheduled to be completed in 2018, and the entire project is scheduled to be completed in 2021. The construction of the tunnel will cost approximately 8.7 billion Norwegian kroner, which is equivalent to about 1,000 million euros.
