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Abstract: Road header performance prediction plays a significant role in the successful implementation of a tunneling project; so that, there is a need for accurate prediction of the advance rate of tunneling. However, there is relatively less study on predicting the performance of such machinery by using soft computing techniques although they have some advantages over the other methods. On the other hand, often models applied for road header performance prediction neglect interaction between machine and rock mass parameters. The Takagi–Sugeno (TS) fuzzy system model, one of the most popular fuzzy models, can be applied to solve complex problems by transferring a nonlinear system into a set of linear subsystems. However, in many situations, it is not convenient to identify all the rules; so, using the fuzzy clustering techniques in which the rules are resulted from measured data can be useful and valuable. In this paper, a new model based on the geological and geotechnical site conditions is developed to predict the road header performance. The model is developed using soft computing technique that applies the concept of fuzzy logic to take into account the uncertainty and complexity derived from the interaction between rock properties and road header parameters. The prediction capabilities offered by TS fuzzy model based on subtractive clustering method are demonstrated by using field data of obtained from Tabas coal mine in Iran. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]