Delia, the first tunnel-boring machine (TBM) to excavate beneath the city of Lima, Peru, has completed the first section of a tunnel that will connect two stations for Line 2 of Lima’s metro.
Named after a pioneering Peruvian mining engineer, Delia broke through at the future Circunvalación Station after excavating 720m. It was celebrated with Peruvian President Pedro Castillo in attendance
The project, which Webuild is building in consortium with local and European partners, is part of a contract in which the civil works are worth $3bn. The works include the excavation of a 27km tunnel to connect the ATE and Callao districts, and the construction of a section of another planned metro line called Line 4.
These two new lines for the city’s metro system will improve mobility across the city, one of the most congested in the world. They will allow for the transport of more than one million people a day through 10 districts, reducing commuting times between ATE and Callao from two hours to only 45 minutes.
President Castillo, accompanied by Transport Minister Juan Silva, emphasised the project’s “social impact” with its expansion of the metro system, which at the moment has only one line – Line 1, an elevated structure unable to reduce traffic and air pollution in the city.
Delia is named after the first Peruvian woman to earn a degree in mining engineering at the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (National University of Engineering). It has a diameter of 10.27 metres and together with a second TBM, will contribute to the construction of 35 stations, 36 ventilation and emergency shafts and two train depots.
