Tunnelling - Articles and news items

Driving under the Gotthard complete and the Ceneri is on course

Issue 4 2011 / 4 August 2011 /

On 23 March 2011, between Faido and Sedrun in Switzerland, miners excavated the last metres of rock of the Gotthard Base Tunnel. Both single-track tubes are therefore now continuously bored over their full length of 57 kilometres. In the Ceneri Base tunnel, the main drives from the Sigirino intermediate heading, as well as the inward drives from both portals, are in progress.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel

Since the second final breakthrough on 23 March 2011, the Gotthard Base Tunnel is completely cut. Lining work in the Erstfeld, Sedrun and Faido sections is progressing according to plan. At Bodio West, installation of the railway infrastructure for the test section is in progress. (more…)

Manufacture of Crossrail’s tunnel boring machines to get underway shortly

Rail industry news / 16 May 2011 /

Crossrail today announced that six of the tunnel boring machines (TBMs) required to deliver the new rail tunnels will be manufactured by Herrenknecht AG, Germany. (more…)

Work set to start on Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy

Rail industry news / 13 October 2010 /

Work is set to start on a new academy which will give thousands of young people the skills and training needed to kick-start a career in construction after VolkerFitzpatrick was notified of Crossrail’s intention to award the contract to them. (more…)

Tunnelling for and into the future of European railways

Issue 5 2010 / 17 September 2010 /

The remarkable volume of tunnelling on a worldwide basis during the last two or three decades (see Figure 1) is not defined by the demands to improve the railway networks in many countries. Stimulation in this direction is especially given by the generally highly ranked socio-political requirement of improved mobility – both for persons and goods – achieving at the same time a better environmental balance. (more…)

Crossrail announces latest tunnel contract shortlist

Rail industry news / 2 September 2010 /

Crossrail today announced the shortlist for the refurbishment of the Connaught Tunnel, a major part of the Abbey Wood branch, and the Pudding Mill Lane Tunnel Portal. (more…)

Gotthard and Ceneri take major steps forward

Issue 4 2010 / 4 August 2010 /

Construction of the new Gotthard line with the Gotthard and Ceneri Base Tunnels is on course. In October 2010, a further milestone will be the final breakthrough of the Gotthard: the miners will excavate the last stretch of rock between the portals at Erstfeld and Bodio/Pollegio. On the Ceneri, in March 2010, driving towards the north and south began from the intermediate heading at Sigirino. Both construction projects have therefore taken a major step forward towards their respective scheduled openings in 2017 (Gotthard) and 2019 (Ceneri). (more…)

Construction of cross-city link helps relieve capacity limits

Issue 4 2010 / 4 August 2010 /

Zurich Hauptbahnhof (Zurich main station, or Zurich HB) is the central hub for rail traffic in Switzerland. Trains pull in and out of the station virtually every minute, and over 300,000 passengers depart, arrive or change trains here daily. Commuter traffic is forecast to grow in the coming years, and over half a million passengers and passers-by are expected to be using the station every day – exceeding its current capacity limits.

Together with other infrastructure expansion projects, the new 9.6km cross-city link will soon ease the bottleneck, enabling new service patterns to be implemented for suburban (S-Bahn) rail traffic from the end of 2013 and for long-distance services as of 2015. The improved services and new connections will be of particular benefit to users of Zurich’s local S-Bahn network and to rail passengers travelling on the Geneva–Berne–Zurich Airport–St. Gallen route. (more…)

Crossrail starts preparatory works at Royal Oak tunnel site

Rail industry news / 5 February 2010 /

With the start of a new year, Europe’s largest infrastructure project, Crossrail, is moving ahead with preparatory work now underway for the railway’s future tunnel entrance at Royal Oak in west London. (more…)

Infrabel feverishly continues working on Liefkenshoek rail link

Issue 1 2010, Past issues / 28 January 2010 /

Infrabel, the Belgian railway infrastructure manager, is busy working on building a direct rail link between the Left and the Right Bank in the Port of Antwerp: the Liefkenshoek rail link. In mid-January 2010, the project company LOCORAIL NV started boring the first of two tunnel shafts. In a conversation with European Railway Review, Luc Vansteenkiste, Infrabel’s Director General of Access to the Network, explains this spectacular work, the safety aspects and the importance of this prestigious project for Infrabel and the Port of Antwerp. (more…)

Security during construction for the Brenner Tunnel North Access Section

Issue 6 2009, Past issues / 12 December 2009 /

The North Access Section to the Brenner Tunnel is particularly important to rail transport within Europe as part of the TEN 1 – Axis Berlin-Palermo in a north-south direction and as the main east-west traffic artery in the junction with the Lower Inn rail link. Security, in particular, is a topic with a crucial role to play in the design and construction of the railway engineering infrastructure, due to its complexity and tight timeframe.

The railway engineering infrastructure in the Lower Inn (Tirol) Valley consists of the 41km-long Kundl/Radfeld-Baumkirchen section, which is mainly of new double track construction. The underground sections are led through a single main tunnel tube. This length of line is particularly notable for its high proportion of tunnel works, with a total of 34km double track tunnel designed for a maximum operating speed of 250km/h. The modernisation of the whole route has the main aim of considerably speeding up and increasing the capacity for transporting people and goods between northern Europe and Italy. (more…)

Crossrail announces tunnelling shortlist

Rail industry news / 4 December 2009 /

UK: On December 4 Crossrail Ltd named the five bidders shortlisted to tender for two of the three contracts to bore tunnels for the cross-London Rail link.

(more…)

Tunnel construction through the Hallandsås Ridge – a world-class project

Issue 5 2009, Past issues / 26 September 2009 /

Construction of a tunnel through the Hallandsås Ridge in southwest Sweden has given rise to many emotions over the years and the project has suffered several setbacks. Yet because of, or perhaps thanks to, its history, the tunnel is now one of Sweden’s most well-planned construction projects. Today, the project has Swedish and international expertise of world-class, and environmental and safety standards are rigorous. (more…)