Ruslan Baysarov's TBM Victoria entered into Guiness Records
31.03.20, 15:49, Msk
At the end of March, Guinness World Records officially recorded a new world record in construction when 23 tunnel boring machines (TBMs) worked simultaneously on digging tunnels in the Moscow metro. This is the second time that the Victoria TBM, belonging to Ruslan Baysarov's SK Most Group, has been used in setting such a record. It was also the first time in Russian history that such innovative technology was implemented to place a pre-assembled TBM inside an underground pit.
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Ahead of the World
The Moscow metro is currently being built at record pace with the Bolshaya Koltsevaya line being key to the success of the project, which must be completed within two years. The Bolshaya Koltsevaya line will consist of:
- 31 stations
- 19 transfers to other lines
- 11 crossings that will save up to 30 minutes a trip
It is no surprise that the work on the Moscow metro was what led to a new record being set in the Guinness Book of World Records. The record of the capital's metro builders was recorded strictly. A total of 48 witnesses meticulously recorded the work of the tunneling machines on video so that evidence could be presented to the judges in London. After receiving several video files confirming the simultaneous operation of an unprecedented number of TBMs, the judges officially recorded the new world record.
A Two-Time Record Breaker
The Victoria machine, which is helping dig a two-track tunnel from the Tekstilshchiki metro station on the Eastern section of the BKL, was lowered into the underground pit of the metro at the end of December. This event also attracted the attention of the mayor of Moscow and much of the press. Traditionally, a TBM is lowered into the ground in parts and collected directly in the pit. But the Victoria, whose dimensions exceed 10 meters in diameter and weighs 830 tons, was placed underground in fully assembled form with the help of a special portal complex that was lowered into the future metro station. In order to this the Victoria was first raised a meter above ground, then moved to a distanced of 50 meters, and finally was delivered 23 meters below to the underground area. This saved a crucial amount of time and resources.
USK Most, a subsidiary of SK Most Group of Companies, is laying tunnels on one of the most difficult sections of the metro. The metro line running towards the Pechatniki station runs under densely populated areas and intersects the Moscow Central Diameters in several areas yet avoiding disruption of its schedule. Therefore, precision is of such great importance with deviations of even a centimeter to the left or right being unacceptable. Ruslan Baysarov's specialists have been handling these tasks flawlessly thanks to their unparalleled experience in the construction of complex projects, both in Russia and elsewhere.
Construction projects of the Century
Among the many projects in which SK Most Group of Companies is involved are many of national significance. Take, for example the second Baikal tunnel, which was dug to a distance of 6.7 kilometers in difficult mountain conditions. Its construction made it possible to eliminate the "bottleneck" of the BAM highway, the importance of which is currently difficult to overestimate considering the increase in exports to the Far East. The tunnel was dug through a zone with a high level of seismic activity, straight through tectonic faults.
Another of these nationally important projects was a series of multipurpose tunnels for trains and vehicles built along the Adler-Alpika service route for the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
SK Most also built the following complex rail tunnels:
- Kuznetsovsky;
- Mansky;
- Krolsky;
- Tomusinsky;
- 2nd Dzhebskiy;
- Obluchenskyi and others.
Beginning around 2010, business executive Ruslan Baysarov decided to put his efforts and capital into projects related to the development of the Russian mining and transport infrastructure industry. Beginning in the entertainment industry, he then spent about a decade in the oil business, working in senior positions in the capital's fuel companies. In 2011, he left the oil industry and started developing a coal field in Tuva as well as building a railroad as part of the same project. Since 2016, he became the main owner of the SK Most Group of Companies and took over as the chairman of the board of directors, giving a new impetus to the implementation of projects of one of the largest construction firms in the country.