Mechanized tunnelling: Where it stands and where it has to proceed from a manufacturers view point

The first part of the paper gives a brief survey of the recent state of art of TBM-tunnelling dealing with range of application of different systems, their performance, time requirements, system costs and involved risks. In the second part main items of future development - already initiated or only prospective - are discussed and some potential solutions presented. The final part deals with potentials of improved cooperation between clients, consultants and manufacturers in important intermedial steps of a TBM-project.