VIP Polymers announced contracts in London and Mumbai

2 March 2018


UK – Manufacturer VIP Polymers said Tuesday it has won contracts to provide tunnel segment gaskets for two major tunnelling projects in the United Kingdom and India.

VIP has a contract to supply its latest cast-in gasket for the 12.7km-long Thames Tideway Central wastewater tunnel in London and has also won a contract to supply tunnel segment gaskets for a project to extend the Mumbai Metro.

Matthew Levitt, VIP technical business development manager, said: “Our success with both projects demonstrates our ability to deliver a wide range of innovative products and technologies for supporting major water and transport infrastructure projects anywhere in the world.

“These are exciting tunnelling projects that are vital to the sustainable development and growth of two great cities, and we’re delighted to be involved with them.”

For Thames Tideway Central, the longest of three sections of a 25km-long tunnel, VIP said it is supplying its cast-in gasket referenced VIP028CI with patented corners to tunnel segment pre-caster Pacadar for the section, which will be 12.7km long, with an inner diameter of 7.8m. Supply commenced in December 2017. A consortium made up of Ferrovial Agroman and Laing O’Rourke (FLO JV) is the main contractor for the central section, which runs from Fulham to Blackfriars and will have 6,100 tunnel segment ring sets.

In Mumbai VIP has been commissioned by J Kumar Infraprojects to supply tunnel segment gaskets for the Metro Line 3 (Packages 5 and 6) tunnel, which is being built for the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, a joint venture between the Indian Government and the Government of Maharashtra. The project involves the construction of a 4.5km twin tunnel, with an outside diameter of 6.6m, requiring a total of 17,800 tunnel segment ring sets.

Production of the glued-in gaskets selected for the tunnel has already begun at VIP’s factory in Huntingdon.

Levitt said: “The gasket has been specifically developed as a modification of our VIP024 gasket to provide additional sealing assurance sought by project engineers as the tunnel passes under the Mithi River.