Case
Mobile Cranes
Cranes
Infrastructure
THIS CONTRACT IS FAR FROM BORING
When metro lines are being established, a very big part of the work naturally takes place underground. That was also the case in Copenhagen, where the tunnel boring machines Eva, Minerva, Nora, and Tria worked hard on the Danish capital’s new city circle line.
There is also a great deal of activity above ground level and here BMS Heavy Cranes is easy to spot: This part of the BMS Group moved the tunnel boring machines, each of which weighs about 700 ton and is equipped with a 11 meter long and 350-ton drill head.
BMS Heavy Cranes is used to working in open spaces – for instance when erecting wind turbine farms – where it is often possible to have two cranes working together. However, that was not the case for the new metro line in Copenhagen. Here, the tunnel boring machines were being lowered and hoisted up to working sites often located in narrow streets. The task was to lift elements for the machines, weighing typically 180-200 ton each – and using only one crane.
The tunnel boring machines work in pairs through the subsoil, drilling two parallel tunnels, each some 15 kilometer long.
There is also a great deal of activity above ground level and here BMS Heavy Cranes is easy to spot: This part of the BMS Group moved the tunnel boring machines, each of which weighs about 700 ton and is equipped with a 11 meter long and 350-ton drill head.
BMS Heavy Cranes is used to working in open spaces – for instance when erecting wind turbine farms – where it is often possible to have two cranes working together. However, that was not the case for the new metro line in Copenhagen. Here, the tunnel boring machines were being lowered and hoisted up to working sites often located in narrow streets. The task was to lift elements for the machines, weighing typically 180-200 ton each – and using only one crane.
The tunnel boring machines work in pairs through the subsoil, drilling two parallel tunnels, each some 15 kilometer long.
The machines move an average of 15 to 20 meter per day, often working in 20 to 40 meter depth and removing approximately 3.1 million ton of soil and limestone. When the work in one section was complete, the tunnel boring machines were disassembled, hoisted and transported to a new location where BMS Heavy Cranes lowered them down, so they could be sent off on a new stretch.
Over the past decade, BMS Heavy Cranes has grown significantly. This part of the BMS Group now operates more than 60 cranes with a capacity of 600 tons or more and 75+ cranes ranging from 130 to 500 tons – the largest being a ring crane with a capacity of 3,000 tons. Earlier on the company focused on wind turbine projects, but thanks to the increased capacity and flexibility the large cranes are nowadays lifting bridges, large sections of industrial buildings and indeed tunnel boring machines as for the new Copenhagen metro.
The metro in Copenhagen was expanded with a city circle line consisting of 17 new stations. The new line – an approximately 15 kilometer underground railway under the Danish capital - opened in 2019.
Over the past decade, BMS Heavy Cranes has grown significantly. This part of the BMS Group now operates more than 60 cranes with a capacity of 600 tons or more and 75+ cranes ranging from 130 to 500 tons – the largest being a ring crane with a capacity of 3,000 tons. Earlier on the company focused on wind turbine projects, but thanks to the increased capacity and flexibility the large cranes are nowadays lifting bridges, large sections of industrial buildings and indeed tunnel boring machines as for the new Copenhagen metro.
The metro in Copenhagen was expanded with a city circle line consisting of 17 new stations. The new line – an approximately 15 kilometer underground railway under the Danish capital - opened in 2019.