How to you drill a hole through a mountain? With a Tunnel Boring Machine, TBM for short, of course. These machines have been around since the 1850's although it was until the 1950s that the technology actually resembled what is used today.
Their size varies but the world's largest is 15.43 meter (50.62 ft) in diameter and currently working it's way through the ground under the Shanghai Yangtze River in China.
But rather than take you through all the technical and historical facts about TBM's. We'd rather just show some amazing photos. If you want to learn more about TBM's( and who doesn't) check the Wikipedia entry and if you're just into tunnels then check the list of world's longest tunnels. Make note to never get into a conversation about this with the Swiss. They love a good tunnel like the Gotthard Base Tunnel which has 2,000 people working 24hrs a day 365 days a year to create a 57 km (35 miles) long tunnel at some 2,000 meters underground. The BBC have a great article here on the project.
Oh and you'd think that the softer the rock the quicker you can drill. Not so.
"With this machine, in good conditions, we can excavate 40 metres in a day," says Mr Schmid. "That's an absolute record. However in poor rock conditions, where the rock is very soft, we can only excavate around half a metre a day," says Mr Schmid. "So in these situations, the work is delayed, and the costs rise."
Anyway as we said let's show some pictures.
Tell me that doesn't look like a Giger piece.
Yep you guessed it. The Japanese had to top everyone and do a double tunnel TBM.
This is what happens when a TBM get's the Flu.
Old school!
Here are the few videos I could find featiring TBM's. Filming the action is usually reserved for the money shot. ie the final stage when the TBM breaches the other side.
People seem to love a tunnel opening.
And if you're wondering how you actually operate one of these machines check out the very boring controls.
Photo sources: 1, 2 Getty also has a collection of great TBM photos but we'd get in trouble if we used them.
