Features Archive
Archive of features from the global tunnels industryFeatures By Date
May 2019
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Ear to the ground
Arne Berndt, owner of SoundPlan International assesses options for reducing noise in tunnelling operations
Triumph in Turkey
Desiree Willis, technical writer for TBM manufacturer Robbins, discusses work on the Gerede Water Transmission Tunnel in Turkey.
Deepest and Longest
Yves Boissonnas, head of tunnelling at Sika Europe Management, the guest speaker at the January BTS lecture, provided a presentation on the Gotthard Base Tunnel
Basque Y
Paola De Pascali looks at the Basque Y network in Spain that is set to reduce travel times between the regional capitals and to connect Spanish and European high speed networks.
Shaft construction and support methods
The importance of minimizing public impact and the need to avoid interfering with other structures and utilities in the area often requires the design and construction of vertical shafts during a tunnelling project.
Fire safety
This article is a reprint of the paper first published in the Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Tunnel Safety and Security, Borås, Sweden, 14-16 March, 2018, and presented as a keynote address there. The article has been abridged from the original paper.
April 2019
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Hybrid Strength
In just under a year, the TBM excavating the Ohio Canal Interceptor in Akron made its big breakthrough. Paola De Pascali reports on the mixed ground project.
Head to the lake
Construction started this year on the City of Toronto’s Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant Outfall at Lake Ontario. Andre Solecki, Riley McMillan and Kai Fung, of Hatch, and Justyna Kempa-Teper with the City of Toronto discuss the design challenges for the project.
The big conversion
Paola De Pascali spoke with Florent Detraux, tunnel construction manager at Vinci Construction Grand Projets, about the conversion of an NFM TBM to use Herrenknecht Variable Density technology on the third metro line Phase 4A in Cairo
Helsinki spreads west
Paola De Pascali talked with Salminen Jukka principal designer of rock engineering at Pöyry’s to understand how the Western Metro is being extended from Matinkylä to Kivenlahti
Remaking Nepal
Alex Conacher travelled to the Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project in Nepal, where, in a world first, tunnellers are driving a TBM through the Himalayan Siwalik geology. Once complete the project will unlock irrigation and hydropower potential in the region.
International Iberia
Paola De Pascali interviews Spanish infrastructure companies and the Spanish Association of Tunnels and Underground Works to understand how the financial crisis affected the tunnelling industry and how the companies became active abroad, getting a strong presence on the international tunnelling market.
SCL optimisation at bank – a combined lining approach
The Bank Station upgrade project made use of a combined lining system, comprising primary and secondary fibre-reinforced sprayed concrete linings. This paper highlights the design considerations for different components of the combined lining.
Welcome to Naples
Andrea Pigorini, president of Italy’s national tunnelling body SIG welcomes the industry to Naples for the 2019 World Tunnel Congress
March 2019
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Fixings in Tunnels: Safety and maintenance considerations
Panos Spyridis of the Technical University of Dortmund explores the best practice surrounding fixings anchored to concrete tunnel
Moncalieri extension
Paola De Pascali talked with Lombardi Ingegneria technical director, Alessandro Damiani and CMC project manager Lorenzo Fiorentino about the challenges met during excavation of the Metro Line 1 extension in Turin, Italy
To the next century
Alex Conacher visits the Elan Valley Aqueduct project in Wales, where tunnellers are constructing three bypass sections adjacent to the existing Victorian asset
Trenchless methods: Which one works best for your project?
Trenchless methods are ways to install, repair, and renew underground pipes, ducts, and cables with minimal or no excavations from the surface.
Corner component
Peter Tiedemann, Datwyler’s product manager, tunnel and tracks – Americas, discusses requirements for custom gasket corners in segmental tunnel construction. The solution is being used on the Blacksnake Creek project in Missouri
Gap year
Tunnelling begins this year for the City of Louisville. Nicole Robinson reports on the Waterway Protection Tunnel
