King's Shield is back in action. “The Podłęże-Piekiełko project is not slowing down”

Previously, the machine was working on drilling a tunnel under Pisarzowa, and now it has started the next stage of work - on the Szczyrzyc-Tymbark section.

Podłęże-Piekiełko project

During a briefing at the construction site, Marcin Mochocki, member of the management board of PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe, announced that the machine had already bored over 100 meters of the tunnel. The Podłęże-Piekiełko project is not slowing down, in fact it is accelerating. The shield started drilling as scheduled, he added.

According to Mochocki, the value of the works completed so far as part of the entire Podłęże-Piekiełko project amounts to approximately PLN 1.5 billion, and the value of the signed contracts exceeds PLN 8 billion. The last two tender procedures announced this year have an estimated value of approximately PLN 4.5 billion.

In the first half of 2027, we will have a complete set of construction contracts for the entire Podłęże-Piekiełko section, announced a representative of PKP PLK.

As part of the contract, almost 9 km of tunnels will be built, and over 30 km are planned along the entire route. The second tunnel, slightly longer than the currently drilled one, will be constructed by the TBM Jadwiga shield, which is assembled near the construction site. First, it will drill a section nearly 1.1 km long.

As Michał Skwarczyński, deputy contract director from Gulermak, said, nine months passed from the takeover of the area of ​​this construction section to the commencement of drilling. The contractor estimates that during the construction of the evacuation tunnel it will be necessary to extract approximately PLN 200,000. tons of material.

Kinga transported at night

Budimex construction manager Mateusz Mikołajczyk informed that the transport of the dismantled King shield required over a hundred deliveries, of which over 30 were oversized transports. Most of them took place at night to reduce disruption to local residents and drivers.

After transporting the machine, the contractor checked its hydraulic and electrical systems and replaced the cutting disc elements, adapting it to the geological conditions. As of today, we already have over 65 percent. prepared prefabricated concrete elements for finishing the tunnel - said Mikołajczyk. He considered maintaining continuity of supplies and disposal of excavated material in the winter as the biggest challenges.

The investment with an estimated value of approximately PLN 14 billion includes the modernization and electrification of 75 km of the existing railway line No. 104 on the Chabówka–Nowy Sącz section and the construction of a 58 km new route from Podłęże through Gdów and Szczyrzyce towards Tymbark and Mszana Dolna. 13 railway and evacuation tunnels will be built in the mountainous terrain. After the works are completed, the journey from Krakow to Nowy Sącz is expected to last approximately one hour and to Zakopane - approximately 90 minutes.

Construction of the Podłęże-Piekiełko investment started in 2023 on the section near Pisarzowa in the Limanowa area in April this year. the drilling of both tunnels was completed: the railway tunnel, over 3.7 km long, made with a TBM Jadwiga shield with a diameter of almost 11 m, and a parallel evacuation tunnel, drilled with a smaller TBM Kinga shield with a diameter of 4.8 m.