Tunnel boring machine breaks through to major traffic junction
Facts about M4 Sydhavn
- Metroselskabet and contractor T3L are in the process of building five new metro stations in Sydhavn.
- The stations will be part of the new M4 metro line, which will run from Orientkaj in Nordhavn across City and on to Sydhavn.
- The Sydhavn line will be 4.5 kilometres long and will carry around 9 million passengers a year.
- The M4 Sydhavn will create an even stronger public transport network that will reduce congestion and increase mobility in the metropolitan area.
Facts about Ny Ellebjerg station
- Ny Ellebjerg is one of the five future metro stations in Sydhavn, which will open in 2024.
- With the Metro to Sydhavn, the many commuters will have easy and quick access to the Metro network from Ny Ellebjerg Station.
- The station will be close to the S-train and regional train lines and will be one of the largest traffic hubs in Denmark in the future.
Facts about the tunnel boring machines
- The two tunnel boring machines in Sydhavn, Inge and Olivia, are the metro construction's largest machines.
- They have a fighting weight of over 600 tonnes and a length of more than 140 metres.
- Some of the machine parts are so large that they have been transported through the city at night for the sake of other traffic.
- The tunnelling machines drill from Enghave Brygge to Ny Ellebjerg. They are then hoisted up and driven back to Enghave Brygge, where they will drill the final tunnel section to Havneholmen.
Over the weekend, the Olivia tunnel boring machine, which is boring the tunnel for the new M4 Sydhavn metro line, broke through to the future metro station at Ny Ellebjerg. Together with the other tunnel boring machine, Inge, the machine has transformed almost 3.5 kilometres of the capital's underground into a new metro tunnel, and the first stations on the line, Enghave Brygge, Sluseholmen and Mozarts Plads, are now connected to Ny Ellebjerg.
‘Public transport in the metropolitan area must be a fine-meshed network that makes it easy to get from one end of the city to the other. When the Metro to Sydhavn opens in 2024, Ny Ellebjerg will become another transport hub in Copenhagen, where the Metro will be connected to the S-train and regional train lines. This will make it easier and faster to get in and out of the capital and around the city,’ says Minister of Transport Benny Engelbrecht.
The five new metro stations in Sydhavn will be an extension of the existing M4 metro line, which runs from Orientkaj in Nordhavn across City. When the M4 Sydhavn opens in 2024, the southern part of Copenhagen will be connected to the metro network, and the journey from Ny Ellebjerg to Rådhuspladsen will take just 10 minutes. The new metro line will be 4.5 kilometres long and will carry around 9 million passengers a year.
‘The metro line to Sydhavn is Copenhagen history. For too many years, Kgs. Enghave and Sydhavnen have been disconnected from the rest of the city. But that will soon be over when the M4 opens and makes it easy for all Copenhageners to get to and from the lovely residential neighbourhoods by the water and at Mozarts Plads and to the large green area that is Valby Parken and Sydhavnstippen. The tunnel breakthrough marks an important milestone,’ says Lars Weiss, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen.
The drilling machine Olivia will now get a short and much-needed rest at the bottom of the shaft, where it will undergo a number of service checks before it is hoisted up and driven back to Enghave Brygge, where it - together with its sister machine Inge - will drill the last part of the tunnel section to Havneholmen. The entire section between Enghave Brygge and Ny Ellebjerg is thus completed, leaving approximately 900 metres on the section between Enghave Brygge and Havneholmen.
‘With the tunnel breakthrough to Ny Ellebjerg, we have reached an important milestone in the project. We are now more than halfway through the excavation of the M4 Sydhavn tunnel section, which will connect to the M3 M3 line. This is a major step forward in our work to create a coherent metro network for the benefit and enjoyment of the capital's citizens, businesses and visitors,’ says Jørn Neergaard Larsen, Chairman of the Board of Metroselskabet.