‘Kinga’ and ‘Jadwiga’ started tunnelling in the Pisarzowa area

Two TBM machines will drill a railway tunnel in the Małopolska region. On 31 March, near Pisarzowa, in the Limanowa municipality, a ceremony was held to mark the start of construction of a tunnel on the Chabówka - Nowy Sącz railway line 104. The District Mining Office in Kraków supervises the underground drilling.

The tunnelling work was started by a smaller TBM machine, ‘Kinga’, which will eventually make an evacuation tunnel. Then, the larger shield - ‘Jadwiga’ - will start work and excavate the main tunnel. The tunnelling will take place with simultaneous reinforced concrete construction. The diameter of the tunnelling shield for the main tunnel is approximately 11 m, and for the evacuation tunnel, approximately 4 m. Thanks to this investment, train travel time from Limanowa to Nowy Sącz will be reduced to 20 minutes, and from Nowy Sącz to Krakow to one hour. The new route will be about 13 km long, and the tunnel under Pisarzowa will reach a length of nearly 3,8 km. The cost of constructing the tunnel alone is more than PLN 750 million. The facility will be ready in about 10 months.

The investment is crucial for developing rail transport, national safety, and for the region's inhabitants.

The TBM imported from China, weighing 2 534 tonnes, will bore the 3,75 km long main tunnel. The weight of the central drive part, the so-called main drive, is 100 tonnes, and the 11-metre diameter cutting head consists of five segments with a total weight of 245 tonnes.