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  Date 2020
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Vermeer to expand its fully-electric HDD offering
23 December, 2020
Iowa-based Vermeer Corp has acquired electric-powered horizontal directional drilling (HDD) and fluid systems technology from Normag.

Australia’s first tunnel training centre inaugurated
22 December, 2020
Australia’s first tunnel training centre has been set up in Melbourne to enable trainees to work on the Victorian government's planned rail projects.

Excavation completed early on Dalmatian tunnel
22 December, 2020
Breakthrough has occurred 74 days before scheduled on Croatia’s strategic Debeli Brijeg tunnel which forms part of the Peljesac bridge and tunnel project designed to link southern Dalmatia to the rest of the country.

Work starts on Vienna metro expansion
21 December, 2020
A 50/50 consortium of Austria’s two largest construction companies, Strabag and Porr, has won the tender for the first phase of the expansion of the Vienna metro.

Ontario issues RFPs for Toronto subway expansion
18 December, 2020
Canada’s largest-ever subway expansion programme – the Ontario Line in Toronto – is gaining traction following the Request for Proposals (RFPs) issued by the Province of Ontario.

Heriot-Watt team plan ‘floating’ Irish Sea tunnel
17 December, 2020
A team from Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University has proposed a floating underwater tunnel in place of a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Ceneri Base Tunnel opens for passenger traffic
17 December, 2020
On Sunday 13 December, the 15.4km Ceneri Base Tunnel (CBT) in Switzerland opened for passenger traffic as the 06.33 service left Zurich main station bound for Chiasso via the tunnel.

Sensor-based inspection system developed for conveyors
17 December, 2020
Technology company Continental has developed a digital AI-based monitoring solution for conveyor-belt systems which is designed to allow predictive maintenance and weak-point identification before damage occurs.

TAC presents 2020 awards in virtual ceremony
17 December, 2020
TAC – the Tunnelling Association of Canada – recently held a virtual ceremony to present its 2020 TAC Achievement Awards.

Light at the end of the...
16 December, 2020
As 2020 draws to a close, I am seeing increasing daily use of that dreadful ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ cliché which many of us in the tunnel press avoid using like the plague. It is being used not to mark the end of a long, hard year, which of course it has been for many of us, but to express hope that multiple vaccines for covid-19 appear to be a distinct possibility.

The third way
16 December, 2020
Genoa has a magnificent sea port but desperately poor communications inland. A third route is being developed under the mountains that surround the city. Julian Champkin reports

Design and planning of large-diameter underground surge shafts
16 December, 2020
Rakesh Khali, Group Project Manager, HCC, India, and Naveen Bahuguna, General Manager-Geotech, RIL, India, discuss the design and planning of the support and construction sequences of two shafts in different ground conditions and the monitoring performance during construction

Client expectations
16 December, 2020
Those who have worked on underground projects will know that being an exceptional designer requires many different qualities to those required to be an excellent contractor. However, one of the elements of success that can always be improved upon (regardless of whether you are a designer or contractor) is a strong and clear understanding of the owner’s expectations. This depends directly on the degree of communication with the client at different phases of the project and the ability to put ourselves in their shoes and see what merits and virtues they are looking for when choosing the best teams for their projects. I recently had a chance to discuss these matters with several clients in Canada, and the following is a selection of the most important qualities they talked about.

TBM Risk Assessment and Selection for Hydropower Tunnels
15 December, 2020
Dean Brox looks at the benefits of typical TBM types and their applicability to hydropower projects taking into account the prevailing geological and geotechnical criteria

All routes blocked
15 December, 2020
Generally speaking and regardless of the construction technique employed, tunnels are required to either keep water and contaminants out, thus providing a dry and durable environment or, to keep water and contaminants in. Frequently, both scenarios need to be addressed, as in subsea or sub-river sewage tunnels.

Metro moves down under
15 December, 2020
Sydney is growing fast, and its transport infrastructure needs to catch up even if the city’s famous harbour is in the way. Julian Champkin reports on a major expansion of the Sydney metro.

Key milestone reached at Hinkley Point C
14 December, 2020
UK-based contractor Balfour Beatty has holed through on the first of three off-shore tunnels which form part of the cooling-water system at the Hinkley Point C power station. The firm hailed the accomplishment as a key milestone in the construction of the power plant which is located in North Somerset, England.

TBM ready to start on Sarner Aa tunnel
10 December, 2020
Having completed the on-site assembly of the TBM due to bore the 6.5km tunnel of the Sarner Aa Flood Relief Project in central Switzerland, teams from Marti Tunnel are now installing the conveyor belt assembly ready for TBM excavation.

HS2 TBMs delivered to Chiltern Tunnel site
09 December, 2020
HS2’s main works contractor Align JV has announced the arrival in the UK of the first two tunnel boring machines that will start work on HS2, the UK’s high-speed rail line.

Procurement opens on Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop
08 December, 2020
Australia’s state of Victoria has opened the procurement process for the Suburban Rail Loop – a 90km line around Melbourne that will increase links between the city and its hinterland, and which is hailed as the biggest transport project in Victorian history.