Overview
- The TBM was completed and handed over by the manufacturer on May 21, 2026, and measures about 178 metres long, weighs roughly 700 tonnes and has a five‑metre diameter.
- The machine is a Mixshield type built to work in Munich’s very soft, water‑saturated ground by mixing support fluid at the cutterhead to control ground pressure and limit surface settlement.
- After handover the TBM will be taken apart and moved by heavy road convoy on a special route that avoids the Albanstieg because its largest component weighs about 90 tonnes.
- Reassembly on site near the Donnersbergerbrücke will precede an expected September 2026 launch of the 3,250‑metre exploration and rescue drive at roughly eight metres per day, with main traffic‑tunnel drives planned to begin around 2028 using larger TBMs that are not yet ordered.
- The wider second Stammstrecke programme calls for six TBMs to build about 21 km of tunnel—two single‑track S‑Bahn tubes plus the rescue tunnel—to relieve Munich’s overloaded central trunk line that carries close to a million passengers daily.