For tunnelling operations GTA develops and manufactures machines such as work platforms, shotcrete manipulators, support manipulators and drilling equipment for the floor and the ′upper level′.
By "upper level" we mean the space above the equipment situated on the floor of the roadway. This space can be taken up by suspended or elevated machines and offers many options for use in tunnelling.
The upper level permits the separation and parallelisation of work procedures and offers great potential for safety, labour-saving and performance enhancement.
Additionally to thus machines, floorbound vehicles also belong to the protfolio of GTA. These devices can be found at the section "Floorbound vehicles".
For special tasks like escalator shafts, GTA has developed the Uphill Excavator. This machine is operated on the upper level; it is movably suspended at the roof by two bearing rail tracks.
The working boom is equipped with a quick coupling system. That allows to respond to different situations very fast and right at site. The attachable working basket allows safe installation of steel mash and rock bolts.
The TAM 7500A is suspended at two „I 140 E“ overhead monorail tracks at the tubbing rings and is moved by a GTA monorail walking mechanism. An additional rail track is suspended at the side for the transport unit.
The TAM 7500A has two booms. These booms are mounted separately in two guideways, where they can be moved backwards and forwards. To be able to bear the manipulator and handle the segments in all possible positions, one of the booms is designed as a heavier version.
In Germany and in other European countries, twin-track railway tunnels have been in use since the mid 19th century. Many of these tunnels no longer satisfy the requirements of modern railway operations in terms of cross-section.
High-speed trains and increased safety standards mean the tunnels need to be enlarged. The national German railway company, Deutsche Bahn, developed a concept for the enlargemaent of these tunnels.
The Tunnel Support Machine TAM 8500 iis an alternative to the TVP Tunnelling Portal. Rather than being mounted on skids it is suspended from and travels on two overhead rails.
The ability to suspend the rails from load-bearing roofbolts or steel arches is a prerequisite of use for this machine. Up to four longitudinal slider tracks are arranged beneath the overhead travelling bridge frame. Various machines, such as drills, shotcrete manipulators and work baskets, can be attached to these tracks as required.
The new GTA - Bridge 7500 was specially developed for driving the Sedrun section of the St Gotthard Base Tunnel.
The Sedrun section is characterised by squeezing rock and thus calls for special tunnel construction measures. Besides the insertion of a variety of roofbolts and the placing of shotcrete to secure and consolidate, a flexible system of steel arch supports known from the German hard coal mining industry is also installed. The steel arch support has a maximum diameter of 13 m and a weight per metre of 44 kg. The secure and efficient installation of the supports is the principal job of the GTA - Bridge 7500.
In conjunction with small gallery cross-sections and medium-sized tunnel profiles, which often have to be driven in difficult rock conditions, great flexibility at the face is required during machine deployment. A separation of the individual operations and construction areas, such as tunnel driving, floor excavation, muck haulage and roof support, is to be targeted. The aim is to accomplish a near continuous tunnelling process by transferring certain operations from the floor to the upper level.
To achieve these objectives, GTA developed the TVP Tunnelling Portal in association with the Austrian company Beton- und Monierbau.
The track removal machine GAE 9000 was developed to remove the two tracks and loading and carrying off ballast and excavated earth. The work is being done on one line while trains continue to run on the second.
Monorail Drilling Units are used for drilling blastholes and inserting roof bolts when excavating underground roadways.
They can be deployed in both curves and 90° turns. The monorail-guided system permits the achievement of good parallelisation effects.
Altogether GTA offers four different types of drilling unit for use in the mining industry. All four can be fitted with different drilling rigs according to the conditions in which they are deployed. According to the type of rock encountered, both a percussive-rotary drill and a rotary drilling machine can be used.
The concentration of the drilling manufacturers on standardised feeds made of aluminium profile opens two interesting market niches for GTA:
The Multifunctional Basket 8200 was developed for use in tunnel driving operations and features a work basket that allows all work required under the roof and at the face to be performed from a secure base. Optional arch lifting devices or shotcrete manipulators can be added to increase the number of possible applications.
The Swivelling Platform 5400 was developed for use in tunnel driving operations and features a work basket that allows all work required under the roof and at the face to be performed from a secure base. Optional arch lifting devices or shotcrete manipulators can be added to increase the number of possible applications.
