South East Water has been progressing an £8 million water supply improvement scheme its giant 25 tonne Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) has been working 15 metres underground beneath the M20 motorway.
The water company is using the £500,000 TBM, named Molly, to dig two tunnels, one under the M20 and the other under the railway line and the River Medway near Aylesford. The TBM was built by German firm Herrenknecht especially for the project.
Chris Love, South East Water Delivery Manager, said:
“Molly is two metres in diameter and a smaller version of the machines that dug the Channel Tunnel in the late 1980s.”
“It’s the first time we’ve used a machine of this size as part of a water main improvement project. We’re using a TBM because we need to link this new pipe into existing water pipes in Ditton and Snodland.”
In August, Molly dug 24 hours-a-day seven days a week, to create a one hundred metre tunnel 15 metres beneath the M20 motorway between New Hythe Business Park and Cobdown Sports Ground.
Yesterday the TBM began tunnelling 16 metres beneath the River Medway and the railway line.
Chris Love continued:
“Once the project completes in January 2016, this brand new seven kilometre pipe will replace an old water main buried beneath Burham Marshes which has burst nine times over the past four years and because of its location, is extremely difficult to repair.”
This is the most critical phase of the water company’s project - since pipe laying began in January, South East Water has laid four kilometres of new water main to date.
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