The new Swiss highway A16 "Transjurane" will connect the French highway system to the Swiss national roads. The interstate crosses the Jura Mountains on a length of 84 kilometers between the border crossing point Delle/Boncourt and Biel, which required the construction of several tunnels - one of them being the Tunnel de Choindez where a Herrenknecht Gripper TBM excavted a safety tunnel.

The most northern large-diameter tunnel, the Tunnel de Bure, was constructed using a Single Shield TBM. With a diameter of 12,535mm, the S-397 is one of the largest machines of this type that has ever been manufactured by Herrenknecht. The competent tunnel crew quickly familiarized with the Herrenknecht technology. Unitil October 2008, the almost three tunnel kilometers were driven through marl and limestone in single-shift operation with impressive weekly performance rates of up to 134 meters.

Tunnel de Bure (French)