Austria-based Felbermayr has relocated tunnel boring machine (TBM) components from Augustinplatz to Matzleinsdorfer Platz in Vienna, an approximately 11-km route.
The TBM, called Debohra, was manufactured by the German tunnelling firm Herrenknecht. The cutterhead is around 7 m in diameter, while the machine itself weights approximately 1,300 tonnes and can reach a total length of more than 120 m.
Debohra was partially dismantled, loaded and transported back to Matzleinsdorfer Platz above ground. Then, the 73-tonne cutterhead drive unit was lifted and loaded using a 400-tonne crane, followed by the 78-tonne cutterhead the night after. This had to be lifted in a tandem operation given its dimensions, with a 250-tonne crane supporting a 400-tonne model. The third day saw the tail shield, which weighed 34 tonnes and measured nearly 7 m in diameter, lifted and transported.
“Such transports cannot be improvised; they are planned months in advance down to the smallest detail,” explained Thomas Daxelmüller, deputy branch manager at Lanzendorf and project manager on behalf of Felbermayr. “It’s not enough to simply lift the load and drive off. We have to consider every junction, every bottleneck, every height restriction beforehand.”
Slinging, pre-tensioning and load testing were carried out prior to the cutterhead’s lift, before being loaded onto a 10-axle semi low-loader trailer. From here, the four-axle tractor unit set off, escorted by police vehicles and escort cars.
When travelling through the city, sections of the intersections had to be closed, lampposts and traffic signs temporarily removed, and various no-parking zones established before the convoy reached its destination at roughly three o’clock in the morning.
“When a 7 m-wide component rolls through a metropolis, you can feel the scale of the project with every metre,” said Felbermayr division and project manager Gabriel Asböck. “For onlookers, it might seem like a spectacle – for us, it means maximum precision and concentration.
Debohra will continue working on the second tunnel tube – part of the new U2 line from existing Rathaus station to Matzleinsdorfer Platz. Along with the new U5, the U2xU5 expansion forms one of Vienna’s largest infrastructure projects.
HLPFI reported in August 2025 that Felbermayr had delivered generators, transformers and turbines to Mintia gas and steam power station in Romania.
