EURODRILL at the core

Across Europe, it seems that efforts to renew outdated transport infrastructure are never-ending. With car ownership set to increase, major road building projects are becoming more and more necessary, not only to cut journey time, but to increase safety, too.

At the forefront of one such project, you’ll find EURODRILL’s CH 400 drillhead. Integrated into Europe’s largest tunnel boring machine (TBM), produced by Herrenknecht, EURODRILLs coring head is helping to drill through Italy’s mountainous Appenine region, taking part in of one of Europe’s biggest infrastructure projects.

Between Florence and Bologna, a major expansion and redevelopment project is underway which will see 44 new tunnels and more than 40 new bridges and viaducts being built. This will reduce the journey time, on what was previously a difficult and hazardous stretch of road, by 40 minutes, and of course, increase safety. Part of this project is the construction of a single tunnel 7.7 km long called ‘Santa Lucia’.

To ensure the safety of the tunnel’s construction, investigations into the rock formation are required in potentially problematic areas. Core samples that provide relevant inforamtion about rock formation must be extracted so that underground construction can continue. During the investigation the TBM is forced to stop work which puts high demands on the core drilling equipment.

The design of EURODRILLs coring head takes these demands in account. It’s specially designed to be quick and easy to install and use – vital elements under demanding time constraints. Added to that, the CH 400’s reliability and overall performance make it the go-to coring head when completing such ambitious tasks. That’s why the CH 400 is Herrenknecht’s standard coring head for all of their exciting TBM projects.