The machine that even Jules Verne was unable to imagine

In the second half of the 19^th Century, a visionary named Jules Verne dreamed up marvelous machines and ingenious artifacts, and anticipated situations that wouldn’t be realized for many years if not decades later.
His most famous creations included the bathyscaphe Nautilus in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the helicopter Albatross from Robur the Conqueror and the space cannon in From the Earth to the Moon. All these devices later inspired engineers and inventors to create the automatic submarine, the passenger plane and spaceship.

The adventures related by the French writer led their protagonists to places never imagined before, such as the bottom of the sea, outer space or Journey to the Center of the Earth. In this last extraordinary scenario, not even the great Jules Verne could devise a vehicle to transport Professor Otto Lidenbrock and his nephew Axel safely as they explored underground.

In the novel, published in 1864, the German mineralogist leads an expedition to discover fantastic worlds in the lower layers of the Earth’s crust. Although in that time there were already primitive machines able to break up rock, and innovations in excavation technology, it is certain that not even the most brilliant minds could have imagined that, just 20 years later, the submarine would be invented, or almost a century on and we would have a rocket to outer space, never mind gigantic, non-stop cylinders that could drill through the earth and take their occupants to unknown destinations, while transforming the chaotic scenario behind them into a safe passage for explorers to come.

Tunnel boring machines: Constructing a new world

The technological evolution of tunneling machines, which accelerated at the end of the 19^th Century and finally took off in the first half of the 20^th, contributed greatly to the expansion of land transport worldwide. The excavation of tunnels to break through mountain ranges or circumvent difficult passes facilitated the ferrying by rail and road of passengers and freight, with their subsequent social and economic benefits.

The construction of this new world would not have been possible without tunnel boring machines, which would be nothing more than science fiction if it were not for a handful of companies that have been designing, every day for many years now, veritable works of art in the name of engineering.

At the head of the group of dreamers of our time, you will find ACCIONA. Its leadership in the construction of roads, railway lines and suburban trains has seen the company become one of the leading experts in building every kind of tunnel.

Flagship projects with tunnel boring machines

Of the over 600 kilometers of tunnels ACCIONA has drilled in recent times, the tunneling machines have had a key role, accounting for more than a third of the total production.

These excavators have taken part in some of ACCIONA’s most emblematic projects, such as the Legacy Way highway in Australia, rail tunnels in Oslo (Norway, the Follo Line) and Bologna (Italy), and the metros of Fortaleza (Brazil) and Barcelona (Spain). They have also drilled access ramps to mines, irrigation tunnels, and water supply and collector networks.

The use of TBMs has reaped huge benefits in these and other works the company has carried out in all kinds of locations. Their use increases safety, reduces landslides and associated damage, and results in greater drilling performance. It means we can now complete a tunnel in a single stage, with a better-quality finish.

The machine that even Jules Verne was unable to imagine allows ACCIONA to construct the world of the future with greater guarantees of success.

Visit the ACCIONA website to get to know more stories like this.