ABSTRACT
The complex requirements for tunnelling projects due to the heterogeneity of the ground and the environmental restrictions, i.e. a minimum of settlements within cities, proved to be very good fulfilled by the application of the Mixshield which can be adapted to various types of soils within the tunnel alignment. In the heart of Europe the century project NEAT, i.e. crossing the Alpes by the longest railway tunnels in the world, the 57 km long Gotthard- and 34 km long Lötschbergtunnel set new benchmarks for open Gripper-TBM. Summarised it can be stated that the mechanised tunnelling has established fundamentally in the world-market and is still growing.
