Tunnel System Number Three drive complete for Sochi

8 March 2012

The road tunnel drive for ‘Tunnel System Number Three’ on the combined rail and motorway link to the ‘Adler and Alpica Service Mountain Health Resort’ 2014 Winter Olympics site has been completed.

The 3,117m-long road tunnel bore runs through a section stretching between kilometers 23 and 28 of the total 48.2km link. It was excavated by a 13.2m Herrenknecht single shield TBM. A few days previously, the 4,651m-long rail tunnel drive was completed using a Lovat machine.

Contractor SK Most Group also completed a 5,800m-long service gallery.

Tunnel System Number Three contained the most tunnel work on the route and the most challenging geology which included 27 fracture zones.

A VMT spokesman said the project used “VMT products such as SLS-Segmental Lining, VMT Ring Management Program RMP and VMT SLS-Visualization. Breakthrough was celebrated on 15 February 2012 with a targeted precision of 2 cm vertically and horizontally.”

There were six divisions of the route in total of which numbers two, four and six included minor tunnelling.

Tunnel System Number One will involve a 2,296m motorway tunnel, a 2,523m railway tunnel and a 2,366m gallery that will run between the 14.7 and 17.2km section of the Olympic route. Work began in Q1 2009. It will be completed in Q2 2013.

Tunnel System Number Five will involve a 1,372m motorway tunnel, a 2,910m railway tunnel and a 2,867m service gallery. It will run in the section 39.9km to 42.7km of the route. Construction began in Q2 2009 and will complete in Q3 2012.

The route also contains railway tunnel sections each sub-1km.