Tunnels & Tunnelling Weekly
Tunnels and Tunnelling International
The official magazine of the British Tunnelling Society at Progressive Media International (PMI) Ltd
Welcome to this week's Tunnels and Tunnelling International newsletter.
Some great technical innovations in the last week to run alongside the usual highlights and milestones.
Don't forget to check out our new website: www.tunnelsandtunnelling.com
See our highlights below:
HARD ROCK RECTANGULAR PIPE JACKING MACHINE BREAKS THROUGH
The world’s first hard rock rectangular pipe jacking machine has broken through on a road project in Chongqing, China.
CREC 1112, developed and manufactured by China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. (CREG), broke through on the pipe jacking section of N-Standard-Partition Street Interchange C-Traffic-Node A-Ramp project in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area.
The project links Lushan Avenue near the North Square of Chongqing North Railway Station and the Chongqing Inner Ring Expressway.
CREG says it is the first time a large cross-section rectangular pipe jacking machine has completed full-face excavation, solving the problem of blind area excavation, especially in hard rock strata, by a non-circular TBM.
FARRANS TUNNELS UNDER THE TEES
Farrans Construction has broken through on a 220m tunnel under the River Tees.
The company took just five weeks to complete the drive for Northumbrian Water. TBM Penelope started at the base of the 46m-deep east shaft in April, reaching the 32m-deep west shaft last week.
The tunnel is part of NWG (Northumbrian Water Group)’s ￡155m Project Pipeline: County Durham and Tees Valley which involves the construction of approximately 57km of new pipes connecting Lartington Water Treatment Works.
The TBM will now be lifted out of the shaft so Farrans Construction and subcontractor Joseph Gallagher Limited can start on the next phase.
SNOWY HYDRO TBM HALTED AGAIN
Tunnelling on Snowy 2.0’s headrace tunnel has stopped after the TBM encountered hard rock.
In a statement, Snowy Hydro Limited said progress slowed last week because of “very hard rock” and the Snowy 2.0 project team stopped TBM Florence because the rock was pinching on the machine’s shield.
“We are currently investigating the best way to relieve this pressure prior to recommencing excavation,” Snowy Hydro Limited said.
STONEHENGE TUNNEL BACK IN COURT
Campaigners who oppose the Stonehenge road tunnel have been granted permission to appeal the outcome of a judicial review, which allowed the project to go ahead.
Last week the Court of Appeal announced it would hear Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site’s (SSWHS) challenge to the High Court decision in February this year. Then, Mr Justice Holgate dismissed SSWHS’s application for a judicial review of the government’s decision to approve the road scheme.
SSWHS said UNESCO and more than 238,000 people opposed the National Highways scheme.
National Highways said it was “hugely disappointed” by the court decision and the appeal would “cause more delays to this scheme as the next stage of the legal process unfolds”.
领英推荐
WEBUILD UNDERTAKES ITALY’S FIRST HYPERBARIC TUNNELLING
Webuild is to carry out hyperbaric tunnelling on the Naples-Bari high-speed railway line – the first time the technique has been used in Italy.
The company will undertake hyperbaric tunnelling on approximately 650m of the Casalnuovo tunnel on the Naples-Cancello lot of the new railway line. Excavation will continue around the clock, under a densely urbanised area.
The compression chamber holds 20 people and takes around 20 minutes to reach the desired pressure. During excavation the pressure will vary between 0.3 and 1.2.
Construction of the Casalnuovo tunnel is scheduled for completion next year.
POTOMAC RIVER TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION COMMENCES
Construction of the Potomac River Tunnel Project was officially launched this week with a ground-breaking ceremony hosted by DC Water.
Washington DC’s Potomac River Tunnel is the next major phase of the DC Clean Rivers Project, which is DC Water's ongoing programme to improve the water quality of the Anacostia and Potomac rivers and Rock Creek by increasing the capacity of the sewer system.
The project comprises a large-diameter deep sewer tunnel, diversion facilities, drop shafts, and support structures to capture flows from existing combined sewer overflows (CSOs) along the Potomac River and convey them to the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant. The 8.9km-long tunnel will be completed in 2030, providing a 93% reduction in the volume of CSOs to the Potomac River in an average year of rainfall.
TBM LAUNCHED FOR SANTIAGO METRO
An EPB shield TBM has been launched for the construction of Metro de Santiago S.A. Line 7.
The 9.8m diameter machine has been manufactured by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Corporation Ltd (CRCHI).
Named Matukana, symbolising brightness and hope, the TBM is 105m long, weighs 1400 tons and has an installed power of 5700kW.
It has a compound cutterhead equipped with 19in disc cutters. Formation boulders will be a challenge and the cutting tools will be changed after every 2km of excavation.
ITACET LUNCTIME LECTURE SERIES: JUNE 2024
?? 11 June - 13:00 CET
This month's ITACET Foundation for Continuous Education and Training on Tunnelling and Underground Space Use lunchtime lecture will focus on ‘Logistics in long and deep tunnels’ in collaboration with ITAtech.
The lecture will consist of 3 presentations in total:
Introduction - Benoit Jones
Design and optioneering - Wolfgang Aldrian
Some examples of carbon reduction in practice - Benoit De Rivaz
There will be a chance for a Q&A session at the end.
Thanks for reading; we hope you enjoyed it.
Until next week.
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