Grand Paris Express
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200 kilometers of track on four new, fully automated subway lines with 68 stations and seven technical centers – the Grand Paris Express is currently the largest infrastructure project in Europe. The metropolitan area of the French capital is getting an additional network of metro lines designed with sustainability in mind, whose main task is connecting the municipalities surrounding the city with each other more efficiently.

In favor of the general public and the environment

Approximately 2 million passengers per day are expected to use the four new lines 15, 16, 17 and 18 as well as the extensions of line 14 South. The project owner "Société du Grand Paris" also expects massive savings in CO2 emissions as well as a major impetus overall for the development of economic strength and the quality of life in the region with around 12 million inhabitants.

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90 per cent of the new lines being built will run underground. By September 2023 the companies contracted by Société du Grand Paris to carry out the construction have ordered 21 tunnelling machines from Herrenknecht. The 17 EPB Shields and four Multi-mode TBMs (Variable Density TBMs) with diameters between 7.7 meters and 9.8 meters designed specifically for the project are scheduled to bore a total of more than 100 kilometers of tunnel and line them with concrete segments.

Mechanized shaft sinking

Herrenknecht also supplied two Vertical Shaft Sinking Machine (VSM) to build four ventilation and rescue shafts for Line 15 South Lot T3C and four for the Line 17 Lot 1. Mechanized shaft sinking was given preference as the Herrenknecht VSM is superior here to conventional methods both in terms of space constraints as well as environmental requirements. The shafts with diameters between 8.1 and 11.9 meters are being sunk down to depths of up to 53 meters.