One plant for two diameters
During a press conference in the segment factory in Mszczonow, Poland, on 29 September 2020, representatives of the Ministry of Development as well as the Client PKP PLK, the Contractor PBDiM and the Precaster Pekabex convinced themselves of the efficiency of Herrenknecht Formwork’s carousel plant.
Concrete segments with an individual weight of up to 10.5 tonnes are lifted out of the mould and turned with apparent ease. Up to 100 of these huge concrete segments will be produced in the factory in Mszczonow per day, processing approx. 88,000m³ of concrete in total, as explained by Pekabex President Mr. Borek. With great interest, the participants of the press conference followed the movement of the hydraulically controlled turning table bringing a segment from the so-called EXTRADOS position to the INTRADOS position required for storage. All representatives from Politics and Economics have been impressed by the performance of the equipment manufactured by Herrenknecht Formwork.
In the newly equipped factory, the Precaster Pekabex recently started production of more than 30,000 of such segments for lining of 7.5km of tunnel in total. The tunnels are excavated by two Herrenknecht TBMs, one 13.04m and the other 8.7m in diameter. For the first time in railway construction in Poland, this technology is applied on the Railway Citytunnel between the stations Łódź-Fabryczna and Łódź-Kaliska resp. Łódź-Żabieniec. The project contributes to the development of an efficient national railway system in Poland. It will shorten the travel time and will allow both regional and long-distance trains to pass the city center of Lodz.
Herrenknecht Formwork promotes the success of the project with customized equipment for segment production. The carousel system with automated cover, curing tunnel and heating system moves 24 precision moulds with an outer diameter of 12.7m and 28 moulds for the smaller tunnel measuring 8.5m in diameter. The complete plant – including vacuum lifter and turning device – is designed for both diameters, thus offereing maximum production flexibility for the precaster. Further, the carousel system offers a high degree of automation of the processes as well as a constantly high production rate.
