All that is below

A major feature article is a presentation of the strategic vision for rail/metro transport in Shenzhen, China – about to be host city of WTC 2024, in mid-April. The major city has seen rapid growth in its extensive underground metro network with technical innovations in construction and tunnelling systems to build some tunnels and stations.

WTC 2024 will have a packed programme of parallel Technical Sessions plus a more than usual number of potential Technical Site Visits. The gathering will offer significant volumes of information on a variety of large tunnel projects around Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and elsewhere in China – and, of course, many projects and developments from all over the world.

The WTC conference, and others, are also occasion for the broad principles of multi-modal use of underground space to be discussed, and the merits of having more sustainable approaches, and a focus on designing for resilience. Two further articles spotlight these topics: from an ITACUS/CPT seminar in Portugal; and, a recent ITA guide.

This issue also has articles considering matters of detail and measurement.

A paper discusses how the widely used NTNU Prediction Model for Drill and Blast design has been refined by studying evolving tunnelling practices in Norway, and also precise data from face drilling and charging on a number of recent tunnel projects in the country. Separately, an article provides an overview of NFF’s latest annual tunnelling activity numbers from Norway.

The importance and value of research and measurement is discussed by Robert Mair, Emeritus Professor at Cambridge, past- President of the ICE, and member of the House of Lords, in our profile interview. He reflects upon the many interesting challenges in geotechnical engineering and tunnelling in his career.