Special thanks to Ludovica Roda, Luigi D’Angelo and Giovanni Di Stefano
Credits per la foto di copertina: Giovanni Di Stefano (Italferr)
The reproduction of the images of this book was authorized by the companies listed in the publication.
Edition September 2024
THE ITALIAN ART OF TUNNELLING 2024
Italian Tunnelling Society
INTR O DUCTION
DUCTION
Dear colleagues, with the Italian Tunnelling Society’s board, we have thought to take advantage of the opportunity to host the celebration of the International Tunnelling Society and Italian Tunnelling Society 50year Anniversary and the International Tunnelling Association Awards 2024 in Genoa to present the best of Italian underground culture, including the most important underground works currently undergoing in Italy or carried out abroad by Italian contractors, together with the most innovative technologies, services and Research activities developed.
Because of its morphology Italy has represented since the beginning of tunnelling industrial experience - that we can date back to 1860-1870 with the construction of Frejus railway tunnel - a kind of “training gym” for all the players involved in tunnelling construction: clients, contractors, designers, industrial suppliers and Academic/ Scientific institutions. The geological, hydrogeological and geotechnical constrains associated with an intensive urbanization, have often been factors in the choice of underground solutions for Italian infrastructures.
This is why, Italy is today among the leading countries for total length of existing railway and road tunnels, several strategic projects as the railways line Milan-Genoa, MilanVerona and Naples-Bari and Palermo-Messina-Catania are currently ongoing, while in all our main cities as Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, Brescia, Catania, Genoa and Palermo are already on site or in advanced design stage new Metro projects.
For us tunnelling means feeling a profound responsibility to shape the future of our society, providing our contribution to make it more sustainable, resilient, efficient, fair and inclusive.
For us tunnelling means desire for connections, that bring to the realization under Alps of the Brenner tunnels to connect us to Austria and the Mont Cenis base tunnel to connect us to France; but also the desire to sustain Italian contractors and engineering firms to be involved all over the world in major international projects can be found in this volume.
For us tunnelling means contaminations from the art world, integration with environment, landscape, archaeological and
cultural heritage and enhancement by visionary architecture. For us tunnelling means opportunity to continue in playing a role in the international network composed by senior and young professionals, researcher, professors and designer. Finally, tunnelling for us means future: new ideas, cuttingedge technologies and projects strongly characterized by an innovative approach, as result of a constant research for new solutions and opportunities.
Around the world there is a great need for a strong, shared and widespread underground culture, which requires tradition but also innovation, pencil and paper but also digital instruments and overall the strengthening of bonds and the creation of new synergies overlapping national borders: Italian contractors along with engineering and industrial companies are well trained and ready to do their part!
This volume is a reissue of a previous publication, enriched with history, ideas, new projects, challenges faced and won. The Italian Art of Tunnelling 2024 is published on the occasion of the International Tunnelling Society and Italian Tunnelling Society 50year Anniversary and the International Tunnelling Association Awards 2024 hosted in Genoa, to provide colleagues around the world with the most comprehensive picture of Italian tunnelling excellence. The introduction of this publication presents an analysis of the railway and road tunnels heritage, enriched with graphs and figures that provide to the reader a clear picture of our history. Such first section also contains a picture of ongoing tunnelling projects in Italy, as well as a short presentation of the future projects, which represents our commitment with the country.
In the second part of the volume, the reader will find a presentation of the entire Italian tunnelling industry: owners, engineering companies, consultants and Research Institutions, contractors and industry and other specialists and a description of their main projects.
This is what we consider our “Italian Art of Tunnelling’’. We hope you will enjoy the reading!
Diego Sebastiani and Agostino Viglione
Italian Tunnelling Society and International Tunnelling association 50 year Celebration
Italian Tunnelling Society and International Tunnelling Association 50 year Celebration
“Società Italiana Gallerie” (The Italian Tunnelling Society) in the last 50 years has been dedicated to divulgating its expertise on tunnelling operations and major underground constructions. Over the years, the Italian Tunnelling Society has successfully explored different ways of pursuing this mission such the organization of congresses, events, site visits, publications and webinars.
This 50th anniversary of our association coincides with a period of great revival, growth, innovation and investment in the world of tunnelling in Italy, and we couldn’t be prouder and more pleased about it all!
SIG currently counts more than 800 members, which represent public bodies and research organizations, general contractors, construction companies and manufactures, as well as engineering firm, consultants and universities. It brings together all the different spheres of the Tunnelling in Italy, thus being a reference point for the whole industry, in terms of promotion of dialogue, knowledge sharing and professional training.
With a view to future growth, the Young Member Group of the Italian Tunnelling Society, founded in 2016, contributes to build out a professional network where the young professionals can develop knowledge and raise their awareness about tunnelling industry.
For half a century our contribution to knowledge development and exchange has contributed to safer, more resilient and increasingly robust clean water, drainage, sewerage, transportation, industrial, energy and security underground infrastructure solutions.
In this our 50th year the World needs the solutions we uniquely bring to the most pressing world crisis of health, productivity, environmental protection, peace and prosperity. We are uniquely burdened by the knowledge of our resilient and sustainable solutions – and must communicate these truths honestly and fearlessly – and then deliver on our promises when our solutions are adopted. With these goals clearly in our minds, we are preparing to celebrate this great milestone and to face the next exciting years, aware of the responsibility we have towards the world and future generations!
Below is a brief description of the most relevant projects in progress and at an advanced planning/design stage.
Third Giovi Pass, Genoa - Tortona Railway:
37km of twin tunnels along the 53km section between Genoa and Tortona. About 65% conventional excavation and 35% by EPB TBM (d 10m), with squeezing ground and presence of gas and asbestos. The Valico tunnel (27km) is going to be the longest in Italy, on a par with the Hirpinia Tunnel on the Naples-Bari railway. At the end of 2023, 87% of tunnelling activities were completed.
Brenner Base Tunnel:
a 55km twin bored tunnel between Tulfes/Innsbruck (Austria) and Fortezza (Italy) with 3 underground safety areas and a pilot/service tunnel. Considering the junction within the Innsbruck urban tunnel, it will have a max. underground length of 64 km (the longest in the world).
Two are the sections on the Italian side:
M section Mules 2-3, involving 65km of tunnelling (20km conventional and 45km with TBMs), currently at 91% progress;
M section under passing the Isarco river (with artificial ground freezing underneath the river), completed in 2023.
Since April 2023, all the contracts on the Austrian side have been awarded.
Mont Cenis base tunnel, Turin – Lyon:
two 57,5 km long twin tubes (45 km on the French side and 12 km on the Italian side), with 170 cross-passages (every 333m), 4 intermediate adits for construction and emergency, 5 ventilation plants and 3 underground safety areas. It is going to compete with the Brenner Base tunnel for the title of longest railway tunnel in the world. The section on the Italian side is:
M CO 03/04, 12km, between the French border and Susa, awarded in September 2023. This area was previously studied by means of a 7km exploratory
tunnel excavated between 2012 and 2017.
Also, there is a 1.9km twin bore junction tunnel (not part of the base tunnel) to link Susa to the Italian railway network, which is part of the CO 01 section, that was issued for tender in 2023 and will be awarded in 2024.
Brescia-Verona high speed railway:
6.6 km of twin bored tunnels (Lonato) and 10.2km of cut&cover to underpass twice the A4 highway (Lonato and Sona) and an urban centre.
The TBM completed the first bore of the Lonato tunnel in 2022, and started the second bore in 2023, which is going to be completed in 2024.
Verona-Fortezza new railway line:
as a southern access to the Brenner Base Tunnel, 7 lots will be built, giving priority to the sections currently limiting the line’s performances the most.
Construction started in 2023 for the Trento by-pass tunnel (11,5km) and the Fortezza - Ponte Gardena section (Scaleres, 15.4km, and Gardena, 6.3km), with 5 TBMs to be launched in 2024 and 3 TBMs between 2025 and 2026.
Two additional sections in future will include the tunnels Val d’Ega (10km), and Zugna (16,7km).
Naples-Bari high Speed Railway:
M Naples-Cancello section: the Casalnuovo c&c tunnel is under construction (first example in Italy of cut&cover excavation in hyperbaric conditions below water table)
M Telese-Vitulano section: conventional tunnelling activities on Tuoro S. Antuono (1,6 km), Cantone (0,98km), Limata (0,3 km), S. Lorenzo (1,7 km), Ponte (0,45 km), Roventa (0,2 km), Le Forche (2,4 km)
M Apice-Hirpinia section: 1 TBM is excavating the Grottaminarda tunnel (2km) and will then start the Melito tunnel (4,4km); 1 TBM will start excavating the Rocchetta tunnel (6.5km) in 2024 (all single bore tunnels).
M Orsara-Bovino section, 2 TBMs are going to start excavating a 10km twin bore tunnel in 2024
M Hirpinia-Orsara section: 4 TBMs will start excavating a 27km twin bore tunnel between 2024 and 2025 (longest in Italy on a par with the Giovi 3rd Pass tunnel). Complex clay formations with squeezing and swelling, presence of methane gas, within a highly seismic area.
Florence high speed railway junction:
a 8 km twin bore tunnel, excavated by 2 EPB TBM underpassing the city centre of Florence to speed up the high-speed services along the Rome-Milan route and free up capacity on surface for regional commuter trains.
Construction with the first TBM started in 2023.
Messina-Palermo railway:
on the Fiumetorto-Castelbuono section, a 10m diameter TBM is working to excavate the 6.7km long Cefalù tunnel (twin tubes). Also, an underground station is going to be built to serve the town of Cefalù.
Genoa urban railway junction:
the project involves the sextuplication of tracks along the Brignole-Principe section and quadrupling of the VoltriSanpierdarena sections which are the busiest portions of the Genoa urban railway junction. The project was completed in 2023 and included the extension of the existing Colombo tunnel and S. Tommaso tunnel.
Palermo-Catania railway:
more than 70km of tunnels through the central areas of Sicily, such as: Alia (20km), S. Catena (7.8km), Marianopoli (6.6km), Salso (3.9km), Trinacria (13.4km), Montestretto (2.3km), Sicani (5.3km), Dittaino (2.3km). The Alia tunnel will be the 3rd longest in Italy. All the contracts were tendered in 2022 and awarded in 2023. 17 TBMs will be used, with 11 of them to be launched in 2024.
Messina-Catania railway:
37km underground over a 42km alignment (GiampilieriFiumefreddo section), including an underground station in Taormina. Construction started in 2022, with 4 TBMs out of 5 starting the excavation in 2024 (the 5th one in 2026).
Salerno – Reggio Calabria high speed railway:
Section 1a (Battipaglia-Romagnano) was awarded in 2023 and 4 TBMs are expected to be launched in 2024. Section 1b and 1c (Romagnano-Praia) will require 11 additional TBMs to be launched between 2025 and 2026.
New Santomarco tunnel:
a 15.8km twin bore tunnel (with 4 TBMs) to replace the existing (“old”) Santomarco tunnel between Paola and Cosenza. The tender is expected to be issued in 2024.
Naples Metro - Line 1:
A twin bore TBM tunnel is currently under construction between Capodichino Airport station and Poggioreale station, on a 1 km length. One bore has been completed while the second one is going to be finished in 2024. In 2024 the last TBM section (about 1km) between Capodichino and Di Vittorio is going to be awarded to close the Line 1 metro ring.
Rome Metro - Line C:
while completing the stations of San Giovanni and Colosseo
/ Fori Imperiali, in 2023 works started on Piazza Venezia station, surrounded by millenary monuments and through archaeological finds which are unique in the world. This new station will be 45m deep, with 85m deep diaphragm walls, and will hasve 3 direct underground accesses to the Fori Imperiali, the Altar of the Nation and the Venezia Palace. It will require 10 years of works and 700 million euros (15-20% of which for archeology).
Turin Metro – Line 2:
the route will be 27 km long with 33 planned stations and will run entirely through twin bore tunnels TBM. The alignment will intersect the existing metro line 1 at Porta Nuova railway station. The tender is expected to be issued and awarded in 2024, with construction works to start in 2025.
Catania Metro:
6km of new twin tunnels to extend the existing metro at both ends of the current line, to reach the densely populated towns north-west of Catania (Misterbianco and Paternò) as well as the international airport of Catania Fontanarossa. By the end of 2023, all the contracts were awarded.
Naples Metro – Line 10:
a 12km long brand-new metro line with twin bore tunnels. Trains and stations will be short (about 50m) to minimise the extension of station boxes and hence the risk of delays due to archaeological findings or unexpected utilities diversion. The tender was issued in 2023 and is going to be awarded in 2024.
Milan Metro – Line 5 extension:
12 new stations over 11km of new underground alignment. The tendering should be issued in 2024 with construction starting in 2025.
Gronda di Genova:
70 km of new highway, 54 km of which will be underground,
with 23 tunnels. Preliminary construction activities started in 2023 (utilities diversion, base camps, explosive ordnance clearance, etc.) with proper construction to start in 2024.
Genoa sub-port tunnel:
a twin bore 4km road tunnel (16m excavation diameter) undercrossing the Genoa port bay. Preliminary construction activities started in 2023, while proper construction should start in 2024, with a cost of 900 million euro.
State road SS 340 “Regina” (Tremezzina by-pass)
9 bored tunnels with a total length of 17.5km are under construction with both conventional and mechanised tunnelling, with about 1km excavated by the end of 2023.
State road SS 106 Jonica
8 twin bored tunnels, with a total length of 11.8km are under construction with conventional method, with about 4km of twin tunnels completed by the end of 2023.
Bisagno stormwater tunnel (Genoa):
a 6km tunnel (1km conventional and 5 by TBM) is under construction to prevent flooding and hydrogeological damage in the city of Genoa during severe storm events.
Campolattaro dam tunnel (Benevento):
a 7,5km TBM tunnel to use the reservoir for drinking water supply to 2.5 million people as well as the irrigation of about 15,000 hectares for agricultural production. The tender was awarded in 2023 and construction is going to start in 2024.
Peschiera aqueduct (Rome):
a 27km tunnel (internal diameter 3.6m) will be built parallel to the existing acqueduct, allowing its maintenance and hence increasing the resilience of water supply to 3 million people in Rome. The tender is going to be issued in 2024.
Marcio acqueduct (Rome):
36km of tunnelling (from 1.8m to 2.5m internal diameter) to replace two 100 years old existing aqueducts. The contract for the first section of 7.5 km was awarded in 2023 and construction is going to start in 2024.
New SMAT median sewer collector (Turin):
a 14.4km sewer tunnel (3.2m internal diameter) will be excavated with a 4.1m TBM, with 20m deep and 25m wide shafts along its alignment. The tender was issued in 2023 and will be awarded in 2024.
The contribution of the Universities to Italian Art of Tunnelling
A significant contribution to the growth and development of the Italian Art of Tunnelling is constantly provided by the universities. The study of disciplines related to the world of tunnelling has been extremely deep-rooted in Italy for decades and there are still universities and departments that represent excellence at the international level, producing research activities and contributing to the training of new generations of tunnellers.
Specific studies are in fact developed in the main universities listed below in which civil, environmental and construction engineering courses are integrated with specific modules dedicated to tunnelling and underground works.
M Università di Bologna “Alma Mater Studiorum”
M Università Politecnica delle Marche
M Politecnico di Milano
M Università degli Studi del Molise
M Università di Napoli “Federico II”
M Università di Roma “La Sapienza”
M Università di Roma Tor Vergata
M Politecnico di Torino
M Università di Trento
Some of these Universities also offer advanced training activities as II Level Masters specifically oriented towards design and in-depth study of construction aspects.
■ Politecnico di Torino and Politecnico di Milano – Master in “Tunnelling: design, construction and management” endorsed by SIG and by ITA-CET.
■ Università di Roma “La Sapienza” – Master in “Geotechnical Design”
■ Università di Napoli “Federico II” – Master in “Geotechnical Engineering for Infrastructures”
■ Politecnico di Torino, Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Milano School of Management supported by Autostrade per l’Italia (Italian Autostrade Group). Master in “Integrated engineering and management of motorway networks”
■ Politecnico di Torino – Master in “Sustainable design of geotechnical works and tunnels” supported by SWSSYSTRA
To all intents and purposes, the Polytechnic of Milan, Politecnico di Torino, the University of Naples Federico II and the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ encompass research groups particularly active in training, research, and dissemination in the sector of tunnelling construction, design, and management.
A brief overview of the activities carried out for each of them is presented below.
Politecnico di Milano
At Politecnico di Milano, since the seventies of the last century, the research, concerning the design of tunnels and their interaction with existing buildings, has mainly developed by approaching computationally the problem. At that time, owing to a progressively increase in computational power of computers, all around the world, young researchers spent a lot of energy to apply to geotechnics the Finite Element Numerical Method: a numerical tool nowadays very popular, but that required almost twenty years to become a day by day geotechnical working tool.
Many difficulties were related to both the mathematical modelling of the mechanical behavior of geo-materials and the simulation of hydro-mechanical coupled problems. In this framework, in Milan, from the pioneering works of prof. G. Gioda and R. Nova, particular attention was paid to the use of Finite Element Numerical Methods to
simulate the consequences of excavation in both rock masses and soils. Innovative constitutive relationships, capable of taking into consideration viscous effects, fragile responses, grouting techniques and many other crucial aspects related to the behavior of both rockmasses and natural/grouted soils, and ad-hoc numerical strategies, to both reduce the computational time and boost the numerical convergence, were conceived over the years by the Milan school.
In the last decade, at Politecnico di Milano, the geotechnical group has approached the problem of conceiving rational preliminary design strategies, aimed at optimizing the use of fiberglass reinforcements to stabilize tunnel faces, when the excavated soil is characterized by poor mechanical properties, as it is in case of normally consolidate clays. These approaches, validated by performing simplified experimental tests on small-scale laboratory prototypes, are based on both (i) the critical analysis of three dimensional finite element numerical analyses results and (ii) the definition, a suitably non-dimensional plane, of a face “characteristic curve” . The same approach has been recently applied, in the preliminary design, in case of mechanized tunneling, allowing to put in relation face displacements with the pressure imposed at the face, variable this latter particularly crucial in the choice of the Tunneling Boring Machine and, thus, in the preliminary assessment of excavation costs.
University of Naples Federico II
At the end of last century, studies and research about tunnelling received a significant boost in Naples from the development of new metro lines (namely Line 1 and Line 6). The interference of the new lines under design with the historic urban environment and the complex underground space of Naples motivated in those years the academic interest of Professor Carlo Viggiani and his group at the University of Naples Federico II. Geotechnical aspects of underground construction in soft ground were among the main lines of investigation in the first decade of the XXI century and produced the first PhD Thesis developed
in Naples on those topics, also in cooperation with the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ and the City University of London, where an extensive experimental program of centrifuge modelling of tunnelling induced displacements mitigated by diaphragm walls was carried out.
Research on the topic of internal forces arising in segmental lining was also carried out in connection with the construction works. However, it is only in 2011 that, based on that experience, the first course on “Tunnels and underground structures”, specifically dedicated to the geotechnical aspects of tunnel design was introduced in the teaching program of the master’s degree in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering.
In the second decade of the century, research interests expanded to the seismic behaviour of tunnels, also thanks to specific funding from the Network of Seismic and Structural Engineering Laboratories - ReLUIS (a competence centre of the Italian Civil Protection Department), that allowed the development of a comprehensive testing program on reduced scale physical models of tunnels in sand in the beam centrifuge of the University of Cambridge. Later, the focus was moved to three-dimensional behaviour of segmental tunnel linings during construction and under seismic excitation, including ground motion asynchronism. Several research activities were carried out more recently on seismic issues concerning tunnels and underground structures, such as fault crossing, soil liquefaction, shaft-tunnel connections, and large underground stations under seismic excitation.
The theme of control of displacements induced to historic buildings by tunnelling in soft ground was also further developed, integrating advanced numerical modelling with monitoring. As outcome of such activities, the control of the behaviour of Victoria Church during the Line 6 construction in Naples and the collaborative research on the structural performance of St. Mary Abchurch and Mansion House during the Bank Station Capacity Upgrade project in London are noteworthy.
More recently, research on innovative techniques of ground and structural displacement monitoring, such as DFOS and PS-InSAR has also been carried out.
In addition to cooperation with various research centres worldwide (such as: Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction - CSIC, Centre Internacional de Mètodes Numèrics a l’Enginyeria in Barcelona - CIMNE, China’s State Key Laboratory of Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering of ShanghaiSLDRCE, Consortium on Underground Space Research –CoRCUS in London), in the last ten years several industrial traineeships for Master students have been activated within the tunnel geotechnical engineering group led by Prof. Emilio Bilotta, involving tunnel design departments of companies in Italy and in Europe (such as: Soil Engineering Milan, Arup London, ICARUSS Paris, SYSTRA Paris, Pini France Paris, IRP Bjuro Projektow Warzawa), that allowed fruitful knowledge and skill exchange between academia and industry at international level.
University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’
The University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ is one of the world’s oldest universities founded in 1303; with over 125.000 students, it is the largest university in Europe. The research group in Geotechnical Engineering and in Soil/Rock Mechanics is part of the Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering (DISG), developing primary level educational and scientific research activities in Italy and abroad, dealing with soil consolidation, shallow, deep, and mixed foundations, tunnels, rock and soil mechanics, retaining structures and slope stability.
The first work and scientific support activities for the construction of underground works have been carried out by Professors Calabresi, Burghignoli and Desideri since early ‘90s. Today, the Research group of Professors Rampello, Amorosi, Callisto, Miliziano, Lanzo, Rotonda, Boldini, Fontanella, Masini and Gaudio, develops research activities on underground construction, involving both conventional and mechanized tunnelling, as well as deep open excavations, being involved with roles of primary importance in supporting the design and construction of major tunnelling and excavation
projects in Italy and abroad.
Specific studies have been developed on:
■ 3D advanced numerical modelling of tunnel excavation by TBM;
■ effects of tunnel construction on historic buildings and monuments;
■ line-monument interaction problems in the underpassing of the historic centre of large cities such as Rome;
■ 3D advanced numerical modelling of cross walls in deep excavations in historic centre of large cities such as Rome;
■ monitoring of deep excavations and tunnelling in urban areas;
■ monitoring and back analysis of tunnel enlargement;
■ study of tunnel-ground-structure interaction phenomena aimed at evaluating the effects induced by tunnel excavation on pre-existing structures;
■ geotechnical and structural design of tunnel lining;
■ interaction between mechanised tunnel excavation and landslide-prone slopes;
■ experimental tests on soil conditioning process, fluids and slurries, polymers and additives, grouting, and other injection materials for TBM tunnelling.
The soil- and rock-mechanics laboratories develop experimental research activities on the characterization of soil and rock masses, interaction with tunnels, injections, and soil improvement technologies. Dedicated activities on soil conditioning, drilling fluids management and grouting were developed with a dedicated team for supporting education and research activities as well as the realisation of tunnelling projects.
The Master in Geotechnical Design, supported by the Italian Tunnelling Association and by several Companies, is a high-specialising course including a Tunnelling course, which aims to build a solid link between university and the industry, providing new graduates and young professionals with practical skills and a multidisciplinary knowledge
in the field of design, construction and management of geotechnical and major underground projects.
Since 2016, after years of research activities in cooperation with other Department and Research groups, the innovative Startup GEEG (Geotechnical and Environmental Engineering Group) was set up at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’. Nowadays, GEEG is a reference structure in tunnelling field in Italy and abroad, offering to institutions, companies, and engineering firms the expertise of a multidisciplinary team and the knowledge in the fields of mechanised tunnelling, chemical treatment of soils and management of excavated soils and rocks.
Politecnico di Torino
Tunnelling and underground space research and teaching have a long history in Politecnico di Torino as demonstrated by the fact that Politecnico di Torino was the first University in Italy that started a university course on Tunnelling, already in 1976, and that organized, more than 25 years ago, the first International Post-graduate Master Course on Mechanized Tunnelling, that was endorsed by ITA/AITES, and was originally directed by Prof. Pelizza and, then, by Prof. Peila.
Presently, Politecnico di Torino has a huge research group dealing with research on all the tunnelling issues related to excavation processes both conventional and mechanised, to safety, to the management of both soil and rock TBMs, to the design of the underground excavation and tunnels and to old tunnel refurbishment.
An important and innovative experimental laboratory on tunnelling has been active at DIATI of Politecnico di Torino for 20 years: Tunnelling & Underground Space Center and Laboratory (TUSC). This laboratory was the first in Italy to deal with the conditioning process in EPB-TBM and the conditioning set up of an incredibly large number of tunnels was studied in Italy and abroad referring to metro, highway, and railways.
In the sector of conditioning the laboratory tests of the research group of Politecnico di Torino matches with a
specific research activity documented by many papers in the most important International Journals.
The laboratory in the years focused also on backfilling and all the issues related to Slurry Machine management.
The TUSC laboratory and the “Geomechanics and Geotechnology Laboratory” of the DIATI has also all the devices needed for the characterization of the rock TBM excavation process. Particularly important is the availability of the ILCM (Intermediate Linear Cutting Machine).
With reference to conditioning studies the TUSC laboratory has the availability of a device able to simulate the excavation process of an EPB, by putting under pressure a large volume of conditioned soil and extracting it with a screw conveyor. The used foam is produced by an advanced foaming generator. The studies carried out in the years concerned the homogeneity of the conditioned soil when cobbles are inside the muck, the clogging in clayey soil, the wear of tools, and the biodegradation of foam in view of the re-use of the muck. All these laboratory research are based on a strong scientific approach and specific devices were constructed and developed. For 10 years the topic of backfilling has been scientifically developed with a specific focus on the two-component grout and the mixdesign definition, the mechanical characterisation and durability of the hardened grout have been investigated. Two patents have been filed by the laboratory members on topics related to tunnelling excavation.
O WNERS
BBT SE
BBT SE: A European public limited company for the construction of a railway tunnel between Austria and Italy. At the request of the Republics of Austria and Italy and the European Union, BBT SE is planning and building the Brenner Base Tunnel.
The acronym SE stands for Societas Europaea. This is a transnational type of company provided for by European law. Since half of the shareholders are from Austria and half from Italy, this type of company is ideal. In 1999 the Austrian and Italian Ministers of Transport established a European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG), known as BBT EEIG. The company was set up to plan the Brenner Base Tunnel. On December 16th, 2004, it became Galleria di Base del Brennero – Brenner Basistunnel BBT SE.
Bolzano
bbt@bbt-se.com
www.bbt-se.com
Brenner Base Tunnel Project 01
The idea of building an Alpine pass tunnel dates back to 1847, when the Italian engineer Giovanni Qualizza was the first to think about it. However, it was not until 160 years later that his idea actually came to fruition. The current railway line mainly follows the route laid out in 1860.
The new railway runs from Innsbruck, in Austria, to Fortezza in Italy (55 km). If we add the Innsbruck railway bypass, which has already been built and which is the endpoint for the Brenner Base Tunnel, the entire tunnel system through the Alps is 64 km long. Thus, it will be the longest underground rail link in the world. The construction of the Brenner Base Tunnel is not only a goal in itself, as the BBT is the central
Location:
Italy and Austria, between Fortezza and Innsbruck Service provided: Railway infrastructure
Amount of work: 10.5 bn €
On the previous page: branch main tunnelinterconnection tunnel at the “H71 Isarco river underpass” construction site
Work on the “H52 Hochstegen” construction site was completed in December 2023
part of the renewed Munich-Verona railway connection, in the heart of Europe. The construction of the Brenner Base Tunnel intervenes on the most critical part of the stretch, rectifying the slope and basically creating a flat stretch with slopes that are reduced by an entire order of magnitude. The slope in the base tunnel varies between 4 and 7‰. The apex height is 790 above sea level, lying 580 m below the Brenner Pass itself (1,371 m).
The Brenner Base Tunnel project (BBT) includes two twin single-track tunnels, each 8.1 m wide, running 40-70 m apart from one another. These tubes are each equipped with a single track, meaning that train traffic through the tubes is one-way. For operational and safety reasons, the main tunnels are connected every 333 m with bypasses.
A peculiar feature of the Brenner Base Tunnel is the exploratory tunnel running from one end to the other. This tunnel lies between the two main tunnels and about 12 m
Work on the “H71 Isarco river underpass” construction site was completed in December 2023, and the renaturation process is currently underway
below them and with a diameter of 5 m is noticeably smaller than the main tubes. The excavations currently underway on the exploratory tunnel provide information on the rock mass and thereby reduce construction risks costs and times to a minimum. The exploratory tunnel will be essential for drainage when the BBT becomes operational.
The tunnel system also includes 3 underground emergency stops and a connecting tunnel to the existing Innsbruck underground railway bypass. The emergency stops are equipped with emergency systems to rescue passengers of damaged trains and with systems for operational management and maintenance. They can all be reached from the outside by a paved tunnel through which vehicles can be driven. A certain number of both underground and above-ground structures (such as a chamber for the ventilation plant, safety tunnels and service tunnels, etc…) complete the system.
The maximum overburden is about 1,850 m. The average overburden along the higher part of the longitudinal profile ranges from about 1,000 to about 1,200 m, while along the valleys, including the valley where the Periadriatic fault runs, the average overburden ranges from about 450 to about 600 m.
2024: current construction work & future challenges ahead
There are currently four active construction lots, three in Austria and one in Italy: ‘H21 Sill Gorge’, ‘H41 Sill Gorge-Pfons’, ‘H53 Pfons-Brenner’ and ‘H61 Mules 2-3’. Work is therefore proceeding, both in Italy and Austria, with a common goal: the streamlining of road traffic from one side of the border to the other, connecting northern and southern Europe in a more sustainable way.
The objectives of the renewed 435-kilometre railway link between Munich and Verona, of which the Brenner Base Tunnel will be a crucial part, will mainly be to increase freight transport capacity, to use longer and heavier trains due to the reduced gradient, to mitigate the noise impact of heavy traffic, and to reduce CO2 emissions.
Thanks to the new railway line, trains with a length of up to 740 metres (instead of the current 450 metres) will be able to run, transporting up to 2000 tonnes of goods (instead of the current 1400 tonnes).
The Brenner Base Tunnel is also an integral part of
The “H41 Sill Gorge-Pfons” construction site team and the TBM “Ida”, which is excavating the west main tunnel in southerly direction
the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor within the European transport network (TEN-T).
2023: a decisive year for the BBT project
2023 was a particularly successful year for the BBT project. Indeed, last year saw the completion of work on two of the most technically demanding project sites, those of the ‘H71 Isarco river underpass’ and ‘H52 Hochstegen’.
In the first case, the environmentally friendly consolidation technique of freezing was used to
maintain the Isarco river in its original bed. This technique made it possible to overcome the natural challenges of this construction site, characterised by the excavation of some tunnel sections below the river, while preserving the flora and fauna of this area. The ‘H52 Hochstegen’ construction lot, on the Austrian side of the project, was also complex and challenging. This section, in fact, was located in the so-called ‘Hochstegen’ geological fault zone, characterised by water-rich layers of carbonate rock.
In addition to the completion of two highly complex construction lots, 2023 saw the achievement of other extremely important goals.
In the ‘H61 Mules 2-3’ lot, the largest in the entire project area, the TBM ‘Virginia’ reached the Brenner Pass on 30 March 2023. This is a historic achievement, as for the first time a TBM reaches the state border through one of the two main tunnels.
On the Austrian side of the project, in the ‘H41 Sill Gorge-Pfons’ lot, the two TBMs ‘Lilia’ and ‘Ida’ started their journey in the direction of the Brenner Pass. While the TBM Lilia, which journey started on 2 May, will excavate through the east line tunnel over a distance of approximately 8.1 km, the TBM Ida, which left on 27 June, will excavate through the west line tunnel over a distance of a similar length.
Metro C
The major players in the future infrastructure of Rome Metro C is the General Contractor entrusted with the contract for the construction of Line C of the Rome underground. Metro C is a project company that involves 5 important players in Italian engineering: WeBuild Group through Partecipazioni Italia S.p.A., Vianini Lavori S.p.A., Hitachi Rail STS S.p.A., Cooperativa Muratori e Braccianti di Carpi, Consorzio Cooperative Costruzioni. The company is responsible for the design, works supervision, construction of the project, and the supply of everything necessary for the commissioning of Line C. It manages the technical, economic, and organizational coordination of the contracted activities and proceeds, under its exclusive responsibility, with the execution of works and services through private contracts with third parties. The project consists of the construction of about 26 kilometers of metro line, with 29 stations, that will bring the Southeastern suburbs closer to the western part of the city, transforming the way of life and making it more sustainable.
a.fantini@metrocspa.com via dei Gordiani snc 00177 Roma
www.metrocspa.com
Line C Venezia Station Project 01
Venezia station: iconic infrastructure project
The Line C route of the Rome Metro runs below Via dei Fori Imperiali, interacting with a unique context in the world, before reaching Piazza Venezia, where a station combining culture, innovation and sustainability will be built.
The construction of the Venezia station in fact constitutes a significant engineering challenge.
The excavation will reach a depth of approximately 45 meters from ground level, supported by means of perimeter diaphragms that go up to 85 meters, entering the not very permeable layer of the Pliocene clays.
The project of this station represents above all an important opportunity for the valorisation of the archaeological structures present underground, in fact the first underground level, in addition to integrating the large halls of Hadrian’s Auditoria and housing the relocation of the ancient Tabernae which overlooked Via Flaminia, will become an important underground connection hub between the surrounding museum complexes.
The station building, with a planimetric extension of approximately 80x30 m, is divided into 6 underground levels which, from the 3 accesses located at the corners of Piazza Venezia, lead users to the platform level, through a path in time and space .
The hydrogeological and monumental context in which the station is located has imposed the use of “cross-wall” diaphragms as an effective contrast for the perimeter diaphragms, in order to reduce the potential subsidence basin generated by the excavation of the station and therefore the interaction with the pre-existing monuments.
Once the excavation has been reached by advancing with the “archaeological Top - Down” technique, the station will have to be completed with the traditional excavation of the 2 platform tunnels, for a length of approximately 50 m each, using the freezing technique as a method of soil consolidation and waterproofing.
The protection works, the Compensation Grouting and the large and complex topographic, structural and geotechnical monitoring project guarantee, at every stage, the safeguarding of the monumental heritage.
Location: Rome, Italy
Client: Roma Metropolitane
Amount of works:
€588.424.488
RFI
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), the national infrastructure manager, is the company within FS Italiane Group that guarantees access to the rail network to the various transport companies, providing maintenance, safe rail travel, ensuring the entire infrastructure is efficient, and ensuring safety and security activities. With its over 16.800 km of lines, including about 1,000 km of highspeed line and over 2.000 stations, it provides for about 10,000 trains running per day.
RFI manages investments to improve and develop railway lines and infrastructure, and develops technology for the safe management of transport, following plans established in the Investment section of the Programme Contract drawn up in agreement with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana also guarantees continuity of rail services throughout Italy with the sea link with Sicily, with ferries carrying passenger and freight trains between Villa San Giovanni and Messina.
Piazza della Croce Rossa, 1 Roma
Upgrade to P\C 80 for the railway line Direttissima Bologna-Prato-Firenze Project 01
The construction of the “Direttissima Bologna – PratoFirenze” railway line took place between 1913 and 1934 and was marked by a slowdown in the works due to the First World War.
The “Direttissima” is a double track line 97 km long and it includes 32 tunnels (total length of approximately 37 km), crossing the complex geo-morphological characteristics of the Apennine Tuscan - Emilian. The main tunnel, Grande Galleria dell’Appennino, is 18,507 m long and it stands out as a remarkable engineering work, allowing trains to traverse the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. In the Emilian territory, other notable tunnels are “Pian di Setta” with a length of 3,052 m and the “Monte Adone” with a length of 7,135 m.
In the last three years works to upgrade the P/C 80 gauge have been taking place in the “Direttissima” line, mainly involving the tunnels. In particular, the works having been made in 27 of the 32 tunnels and primarily consist of milling the original lining, in some cases up to 60 cm, after specific consolidation and reinforcement interventions. The project, scheduled for completion by the end of 2025, represents an investment of 250 million euros. Executed in three construction phases, one phase was already successfully completed, another one is going to be concluded, and the last one, which involves the adaptation of the iconic “Grande Galleria dell’Appennino” tunnel, is currently in the construction phase.
The project’s strategic planning incorporates scheduled daytime and weekend interruptions to allow consolidation, preparatory activities to milling and rib installations. The most impactful works, instead, are carried out with continuous interruptions.
To conclude, the adaptation of the Bologna-Prato railway line to P/C 80 gauge is a strategic investment which reflects a forward-looking approach to sustainable and efficient rail transport in the heart of Italy, demonstrating the synergy between historical preservation and innovation.
Location:
Bologna, Prato, Firenze, Italy
Client: RFI SpA
Amount of works: 250 M€
TELT is the binational public promoter responsible for the realisation and operation of the cross-border section of the freight and passenger Lyon-Turin railway line. The main element of the project is the Mont Cenis base tunnel: an infrastructure consisting of two tubes of 57.5 km under the Western Alps.
Established in 2015, TELT is 50% owned by the Italian State and 50% by the French State and operates within the framework of international agreements signed between 2001 and 2015 and in accordance with the European strategy of decarbonising transport, through the TEN-T network.
TELT takes part In the United Nations Global Compact to sustain its goals and promote its values among its stakeholders and adopts common policies in areas such as environmental protection, occupational safety, procurement and the fight against corruption, characterized by the pursuit of excellence also thanks to the exchange with high-profile international companies in different fields.
info@telt-sas.com
www.telt.eu
Chiomonte, the work in the Italian base tunnel construction site Project 01
Chiomonte is the Italian access route to the base tunnel in Italy. To guarantee the safety of workers and citizens, in 2018 the CIPE approved the variant design that provides for the start of the base tunnel excavation on the Italian side from the Chiomonte construction site - already operational for exploratory work - instead of from Susa as initially planned. The site is located in the municipalities of Chiomonte and Giaglione, under the Clarea viaduct of the A32 Turin-Bardonecchia motorway and measures 12 hectares.
Between 2012 and 2017, in this area the 7,020-m-long Maddalena exploratory tunnel was built to explore the mountain through which the new line will travel and which,
Location: Chiomonte, Italy
Project owner: TELT sas
Kind of service provided: Italferr, Systra, Setec e Pini Group
Group of companies: UXT (Itinera, Ghella, Spie batignolles)
Design period: 2017
when fully operational, will serve as a service, safety and ventilation tunnel for the new tunnel. This tunnel was subsequently adapted, with the construction along the route of several niches (each 3 metres deep and up to 40 metres long) transforming the tunnel into an access point for the construction vehicles for the construction of the base tunnel. The final construction site started its operations in December 2023: it will excavate the 9.5 km of the base tunnel up to the Susa entrance.
A total of approximately 30 km of excavation work is planned. In addition to the two base tunnel tubes, further excavations are planned: the Maddalena 2 tunnel, from where the tunnel boring machines will start, the bypasses between the two tubes, the Clarea safety site and the artificial tunnel at the Susa eastern entrance. For the excavation from the Clarea safety site to Susa, the use of two dual-mode TBMs is planned; these are capable of changing their advancement mode according to the type of terrain they have to face.
These TBMs are machines equipped with a head with rotating cutters that can excavate in hard rock or change configuration to advance through ‘soft’ terrain (that is, consisting of sand or gravel). In the presence of this more friable terrain, the cutter is thus configured to counteract the face of the excavation by exerting a counter-pressure that allows it to advance safely. It is expected that this modification will need to take place in a section of about 1.5 km passing beneath the Cenischia Valley.
Four vertical shafts for the base tunnel ventilation Project 02
To inject air into the base tunnel at the Modane underground safety site, four ventilation shafts with a diameter of 5.2 meters each are excavated. These are four parallel vertical tunnels with a depth of 500 metres to be built at an altitude of 1,300 metres from the Avrieux platform. They are excavated using Raise Boring Machines, a technology developed in the mining industry specifically for the mechanised excavation of vertical shafts of small diameter.
Pilot holes are excavated into the underground caverns.
Bars are then inserted into the holes, at the ends of the bars the reamers (the heads of the vertical cutters) are mounted, which then go back up and dig the shaft vertically. The excavated material, which falls by gravity, is taken out through the existing Villarodin-Bourget/Modane slope. As the excavation advances, each shaft is lined and consolidated with shotcrete (spritz-beton) and then lined with precast reinforced concrete rings. These shafts will allow for dual-flow ventilation in the tunnel that, in the event of a fire, will simultaneously extract smoke and introduce clean air into the safety areas. In this area, the safety site tunnels and several technical caverns, measuring up to 22 metres in height and 23 metres in width, are also being built underground. They will be used to assemble the TBMs that will then excavate about 22 km from Villarodin/Bourget-Modane towards Clarea site in Italy. This section of the tunnel will be mostly excavated using two tunnel boring machines that were tested between late 2023 and February 2024 at the Herrenknecht plant in Germany, where they were built. These are two gripper TBMs with 10.4-meter diameter heads, a weight of 3,200 tons and a length of 334 meters.
Location: Avrieux, France
Project owner: TELT sas
Kind of service provided: Egis/Alpina
Group of companies: VINCI
Construction Grands Projets, Dodin Campenon Bernard, VINCI Construction France, Webuild and Master Drilling Europe
Design period: 2015
26 km of base tunnel between Saint-Julien-Montdenis and Modane Project 03
Excavation of about 26 km of the base tunnel is underway in France. This work proceeds on two construction sites and three work platforms: in Saint-Julien-Montdenis, the nearly 3 km of tunnels towards Saint-Martin-la-Porte are being excavated entirely using conventional methods. The companies, who began excavating the access of the tunnel in December 2022, proceed in the two tunnels with a breaker and explosives. Once cleared of debris, the face is consolidated with ribs and shotcrete.
The next 23-km-long section will be built in part from Saint-Martin-la-Porte, where the 9-km-long tunnel will be excavated to La Praz running parallel to the one already excavated with the Federica TBM between 2016 and 2019, and in part from the La Praz tunnel to the Villarodin-Bourget/Modane slope. Most of the tunnels will be excavated by three TBMs already built during 2023 in the Herrenknecht factory in Germany. These are twin single shield TBMs, whose colours are TELT green, Savoie red and Europe blue, respectively, each weighing two thousand tonnes with a head diameter of 10.4 metres and 180
Location:
Saint-Julien-Montdenis, SaintMartin-la-Porte and La Praz, France
Project owner: TELT sas
Kind of service provided: Egis, Ingérop, Alpina, Pini Group (Lot 3) and Systra, Setec, Italferr e Pini Group (Lot 2) Group of companies: Implenia Schweiz, Implenia France, NGE, Itinera, Rizzani de Eccher (Lot 3) and VINCI Construction Grands Projets, Dodin Campenon Bernard, VINCI Construction France, Webuild
Design period: 2015
metres long. The back-up consists of 10 wagons that bring the rock to the surface via a conveyor belt. These are shielded TBM, i.e. they are equipped with a shield to protect the excavation head and a system of erectors which, after its passage, supports the live rock of the tunnel by laying the lining rings: eight 2 metres-longreinforced concrete segments that guarantee maximum stability of the tunnel where the trains between France and Italy will travel. On this area the La Praz safety site, linkage branches every 333 metres between tunnels, technical rooms, niches and tunnels for operation and safety will also be built.
Villarodin-Bourget/Modane
CO01
didascalia
DESIGN, C O NSULTANTS AND RESEARCH
NSULTANTS RESEARCH
3TI Progetti
3TI Progetti is the Italian largest independent fully employee-owned engineering company, ranked in the ENR TOP 225 international design firms since 2015, offering consulting services for the last 27 years in planning, design, project & construction management of transport (airports, railways, ports, metros, roads) and social infrastructures (complex buildings such as hospitals, schools, cultural buildings), with particular attention to sustainable aspects.
3TI Progetti has carried out over 2500 projects around the world and has positioned itself in the global market as a leading architecture and engineering consulting firm. Being among the first companies which took the path of designing in BIM, 3TI PROGETTI obtained in 2018 the BIM certification for architectural, structural design activities, for installations and infrastructures for civil works issued by ICMQ. With headquarters in Rome, we are a global player operating in more than 70 countries.
Via delle Sette Chiese, 142 00145 Rome (Italy)
+39 06 55301518
info@3tiprogetti.it
www.3tiprogetti.it
Project 01
Bucharest Metro line 5
The scope encompasses track alignment, tunneling, structural, MEPF, signalling and telecommunication to architectural components.
The project of the extension of Bucharest Metro Line 5 (Drumul Taberei – Pantelimon) from Eroilor to Piata Iancului stations consists in a new section for around 5 km and it will include 6 new stations: Hasdeu, Cismigiu, Universitate, Calea Mosilor, Traian, Piata Iancului.
The transport capacity foresees 25,000/ 50,000 passengers/ hour and direction.
The entire route of the metro line is proposed to be completely underground.
The following technological solutions are proposed for the implementation of the metro line underground structures:
– stations (including accesses and ventilation channels) whose execution is carried out in cut & cover with top-down method;
– rectangular galleries/central interstation ventilation whose execution is carried out in cut & cover; The subway interstations are designed as twin circular tunnels, executed with boring machines tunnels, with front pressure maintenance, where excavated material is used to support the tunnel face while it is plasticized using foams/slurries and other additives to make it transportable and waterproof. The mixture is fed into the TBM through a screw conveyor device, which allows the pressure in the TBM to remain balanced.
Location:
Bucharest, Romania
Client:
Metrorex SA
Design period: 2021 - Ongoing
Service provided: Technical project and technical assistance
Alpina is one of the Italy’s oldest engineering company, established in Milan in1954. Since 1989 it is owned by the professionals who work there.
Alpina is specialized in the following disciplines:
– Underground & structures: subways, tunnels;
– Hydraulics: power plants, dams;
– Transports : highway, railway;
– Urban developments and buildings.
The company’s turnover has grown in recent years over 15M€ (engineering services). At present Alpina is developing projects in Italy, France, Montenegro, Chile. Alpina holds the quality management system Standard by Det Norske Veritas. Alpina’s organization is composed of about 120 employees.
Via Ripamonti, 2 20135 Milano
+39.02.58305010
info@alpina-spa.it
www.alpina-spa.it
Colle Baccotto Tunnel
Brescia Verona High Speed Railway Project 01
Colle Baccotto tunnel is a very complex shallow tunnel, located along the Brescia Verona High Speed Railway next to Peschiera del Garda (VR), currently under construction. The project involves excavation of a short tunnel (240 m) part of a challenging system of cut and cover tunnels and deep trenches reaching an overall length of about 2 km. Tunnel cross section is suitable for a double track line with speeds between 250 km/h and 300 km/h. The executive design and construction stage of the whole system of tunnels and trenches was carried out by Alpina Spa since 2018. The railway alignment is parallel to the existing A4 highway road and passes under the SP 28 road which overpasses the A4 along a bridge, close to the East tunnel portal. The tunnel is excavated for its whole length using a full face mechanical excavation in the chaotic moraine of Garda lake, under the water table. To carry out excavation, drainage ahead of the tunnel face was necessary as well as at the invert by means of a wellpoint system. Stabilization and consolidation measures consists of 600 mm single-fluid jet grouting columnar treatments along the crown, sidewall and within the face of the tunnel. Primary support is composed by steel ribs covered by lining of shotcrete reinforced with steel fibres. Final lining consists of a cast in situ revetment with a thickness variable in the range 80-120 cm. Design and construction of the East Portal required a peculiar reinforcement structure of the existing SP-28 abutment to avoid excessive settlements during tunnel excavation. To reduce the aquifer before starting tunnel excavation inside the reinforcement structure, a system of deep drainage wells was designed and drilled which allowed the excavation to begin safely under the existing abutment. A continuous monitoring system was foreseen to control the bridge structures and the highway road conditions during the entire work.
Location:
Peschiera del Garda
Verona - Italy
Client:
Cepav Consortium
Contractor:
Sposato Costruzioni Srl
Service provided:
Final and construction design, consulting services during construction
Construction Period: from 2019-up to now
DBA PRO.
DBA PRO. is the Group company that offers Architecture, Engineering, Project Management and ICT services for the design and management of the life cycle of mission-critical infrastructures.
DBA PRO. offers study, conception, architectural and engineering design services for single or network works and infrastructures and the technological and special systems that compose them. The company has offices located throughout the national territory and thanks to an integrated approach it is able to manage complex projects and provide support for the strategic decisions of its customers. Teams of highly qualified experts ensure an offer of high quality services and solutions in the following market sectors in Italy and abroad: Telco & Media, Buildings (Data Center, Real Estate, Retail), Industrial (Pharma, Laboratories, Healthcare, Production, Warehouses), Transport & Logistics, Energy (Transmission, Generation & Storage, Sustainable Mobility, Climate & Sustainability), Digital & Innovation.
Piazza Roma 19 – 32045
Santo Stefano di Cadore (BL)
+39 0422693511
info@dbagroup.it
www.dbapro.it
Santa Lucia and Boscaccio Tunnels: engineering design services for the electromechanical installations Project
Specialist support activities for the provision of engineering services to assist the Construction Management officers and the subsequent commissioning of the electromechanical installations for the new Santa Lucia and Boscaccio tunnels. The activity included the provision of engineering and operational support services to the Construction Management for the Installations. The works include the construction of a new three-lane single-carriageway motorway section, doubling the existing A1 motorway between Barberino di Mugello and Calenzano for a total length of approximately 17 kilometres.
The route includes two tunnels: Boscaccio (2,200 metres) and S. Lucia (7,600 metres - the longest in Europe with three lanes of traffic) equipped with an under-floor emergency escape route. Works Management assistance focused on the construction of the tunnel’s electromechanical installations, included:
– MV/LV power distribution, including electrical transformer substations, internal and external cable routes to buildings and tunnels, MV/LV distribution power lines and terminals to the facilities served, as well as the lighting systems;
– tunnel ventilation (longitudinal) and sanitary ventilation of the temporary safety areas and passages;
– conventional fire-fighting (water systems - hydrant networks) and mitigation (deluge system) with water and foaming agents;
– fire detection systems and road sensors;
– active video surveillance with integrated automatic monitoring of traffic, related abnormal events and fire (AID technology);
– information and active messaging to road and tunnel users (variable message panels and illuminated signs), as well as audio broadcasting (EVAC) along the tunnels;
– ultra-wideband geographical (WAN) and local (LAN) data network infrastructures for the implementation of high-tech services along road and motorway routes.
Location:
Barberino del Mugello
Client:
Tecne Gruppo Autostrade Service provided: Detailed Design and Commissioning
Period: 2018-2022
The commissioning phase of the installations included the performance of the functional tests and verifications necessary for the acceptance testing of the tunnel installations, including the inspection of the active safety systems and the certification of the water fire-fighting systems.
Tunnel Safety Officer and its Deputy for A1 Motorways Project 02
The activities of the Tunnel Safety Officer and its Deputy, under Italian Legislative Decree 264/06 (ex 2004/54/CE) for 9 tunnels within the jurisdiction of the IV Section of the Italian motorway system of Autostrade per l’Italia, include the following functions:
– the inspection of tunnel safety measures in compliance with Italian directive and client standards;
– a photographic report of the tunnel, with reference to compliance with the safety measures;
– measurements and instrumental analyses about systems functionality (ventilations, drainage, hydrants, lighting system, automatic emergency system);
Location: Florence
Client: Autostrade per l’Italia Service provided: Safety officer according to 2004/54/CE
Period: 2022-on going
– coordination with emergency services and preparation of operational schemes;
– planning, implementation and evaluation of emergency operations;
– documentation audits on the state of installation management and safety systems maintenance of the tunnels;
– analysis of company software applications for the management and/or remote management of tunnel safety systems also testing the consistency and conformity of the system regulation logics with the provisions of the project documents;
– evaluation of any significant incident or accident;
– review of training of operational staff and emergency road and tunnel services.
– Among the tasks and duties of the Safety Officer also include the organization and execution of full-scale tests at regular intervals, in compliance with Italian regulations, which require:
– the verification of communication flows within Autostrade per l’Italia and between the rescue services;
– the evaluation of the activities, management decisions and the application of the foreseen and planned procedures;
– the adequacy of the arrival and intervention times, the operating methods and the management of the event by the operators in the field, the Operator’s Radio Room and the operations centers of the emergency services involved;
– monitoring the performance of the equipment present in the tunnel;
– evaluating user response and identifying any critical factors during an emergency.
ETS
ETS is a civil engineering company providing infrastructural and architectural design services, surveying, mobile mapping, and geotechnical and geological studies. ETS takes a leading role in railway and road projects, covering the entire project life cycle, from design and engineering to construction and management. ETS leverages the support of Building Information Modelling (BIM), Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability tools and protocols. ETS specializes in tunnelling applications, which stand out as one of its flagship offerings. Maintaining a constant commitment to innovation, ETS developed products and technologies designed to enhance engineering efforts in tunnelling, including ARCHITA, a mobile mapping instrumentation for tunnel inspections on infrastructures, and MIRET for the Management and Identification of the Risk for Existing Tunnels.
segreteriamilano@ etsingegneria.it Via Benedetto Croce 68
www.etsingegneria.it
SIPICCIANO
1 TUNNEL Project 01
Sipicciano 1 tunnel, located along the Attigliano - Viterbo railway in the Lazio region, is a masonry Cut and Cover tunnel long 153 m dating back to 1886. Geological and structural investigations conducted from 2019 to 2022 unveiled the construction methodology. As part of the national railway network authority’s (RFI – Rete Ferroviaria Italiana) efforts to modernize and align the lines with European standards, ETS employed ARCHITA and MIRET for inspection, digitalization, and diagnostic analysis. Visual assessments and diagnostics in 2019 and 2022 captured detailed information for BIM modelling, utilizing high-resolution images of the tunnel, ballast thickness, status, humidity, lining thickness, and thermal imagery. Virtual Reality was also tested for inspection purposes. In 2019, a Spatial Multi-Criteria Analysis identified water disposal as a major concern, leading to maintenance efforts focusing on humidity issues. The work involved injections of various filling agents such as cement mortar, polyurethane resins, and epoxy resins at specific points within the tunnel. In 2022, efforts concentrated on lowering the railway alignment for line refurbishment, necessitating new interventions for the invert structure due to static and functional reasons. To ensure stability during excavations, 5 cm diameter steel bars were used for passive anchors, connected to steel distribution beams. A base excavation of 1.20 to 1.50 meters in the invert zone eliminated the eventual existing structure, followed by the construction of a new concrete slab linked to the existing masonry structure. This structure prevents horizontal displacements and serves as a hydraulic drainage surface, channeling tunnel waters outside through the existing drainage system. All the investigations and construction works were executed with consideration for line traffic and tight schedules.
Location:
Lazio - Attigliano-Viterbo railway line
Client:
RFI - Rete Ferroviaria Italiana
Consortium:
ETS, RFI, MICOS
Service provided: Survey, digitalization, detailed design and works for securing Sipicciano 1 existing tunnel Design period: 2019 - 2022
Roma Metro Project 02
The Roma Metro is a rapid transit system that operates in Rome, Italy. It started operation in 1955, making it the oldest in the country. As part of the efforts from the engineering authority Roma Metropolitane to guarantee modern and safe management of the lines, ETS employed ARCHITA and MIRET for inspection, digitalization, and diagnostic analysis of lines A and B, B1 for a total of 40 km of subways and stations.
ETS was surveyed with the ARCHITA system to obtain the geometries and the whole state of preservation of the tunnel structures. An “ad hoc” library was implemented for both the digitalization of structures and defects due to the heterogeneity of construction methods and technologies throughout metro history.
The target of the project was to give support to the design and instrumentations for the decision-making future phase and through MIRET process it was possible to ensure realistic, reliable objective and ready-to-use data, composed by:
– Laser Scanner survey, georeferenced 3D model of
Location: Rome
Client:
Roma Metropolitane S.r.l. Service provided: Mobile mapping automatized survey of Metro line Design period: 26/07/2019 - 31/07/2020
the state of the art in IFC format, verification of transitability with “gabarit” gauge, and alignment drawings;
– Photo and thermal image acquisition and the elaboration of defect mapping.
– The categories for defect mapping are divided depending on the lining material as follows:
– Masonry lining (M): longitudinal crack, transversal crack, diagonals crack, cracks network, wet surface and leakages, loss of material in the joints, detachment, deformation, moss/plants presence, efflorescence;
– Concrete lining (C): longitudinal crack, transversal crack, diagonal crack, cracks network, wet surface and leakage, detachment, deterioration, pop-out, corrosion and exposure of rebars.
geeg
geotechnical and environmental engineering grouP
GEEG is an Innovative Startup of Sapienza University of Rome, founded with the desire to develop Research and Innovation projects to support the design and construction of large underground infrastructures. GEEG collaborates with engineering design firms, contractors, large companies, material and chemical suppliers and research groups all over the world. GEEG is a fast-growing, dynamic reality with a large and multidisciplinary team whose expertise encompasses civil, geotechnical, environmental, chemical and materials engineering.
GEEG currently focuses on soil conditioning for TBM-EPB, back-filling grouts, slurries for SS-TBM, Micro-TBM and other trenchless technologies, greases and other chemicals used in underground applications, providing scientific and technical support for the definition of products, dosages, performance and environmental impact. Finally, through the GEEG Academy project, GEEG promotes educational activities based on innovative and informal methods such as on-the-job training, internships, supported research activities, exchange of best practices.
Via Giovanni Andrea Badoero, 67. 00154 Roma (RM) Italia
+39 342 512 5890
info@geeg.it
www.geeg.it
Project 01
Design of soil conditioning process and reuse of excavated soils and rocks for EPB-TBM projects
GEEG has developed a comprehensive framework of soil conditioning studies for EPB-TBM capable of addressing both geotechnical and environmental issues. These studies cover the entire tunnelling process, from preliminary laboratory tests, through the design and control of the injection plant, to the monitoring of TBM data and on-site testing during the excavation phases.
GEEG is also developing research activities aimed at rethinking the management and reuse of excavated soils and rocks from a circular economy perspective. Indeed, the most common reuse methods can be integrated or even replaced by innovative and virtuous ones in order to give excavated soils and rocks added value and environmental significance, for example in terms of land preservation and hydrogeological risk mitigation. The main laboratory tests performed to evaluate the
effectiveness and the environmental impact of the chemicals (foaming agents, polymers, other additives, etc.), the workability of the conditioned soil, the clogging potential (fine-grained soils) and the abrasiveness (coarse-grained soils or rocks), the environmental profile of the conditioned soil (biodegradation of chemicals, chemical composition, ecotoxicological analyses).
GEEG’s studies and procedures have been applied in partnership with WEBUILD and other Italian contractors to many of the most important tunnel projects in Italy and abroad, supporting the driving of more than 40 EPB-TBMs and the excavation of about 30 tunnels. Overall, the analyses involved 40 geological formations, 20 million cubic meters of excavated soils and rocks, about 20 different foaming agents and 10 polymers from the world’s leading suppliers. In Italy alone, in-depth investigations and analyses have been carried out in tunnelling projects described in figure.
Project 02
Design of high quality backfilling materials
GEEG conducts experimental research activities on grouts and mortars, mainly backfilling materials injected during tunnelling as two-component grouts. By investigating how various parameters affect their mechanical and environmental performance, GEEG supports engineering firms and contractors in defining mix designs capable of achieving specific technical requirements. Thanks to a dedicated team and following a multidisciplinary approach, GEEG performs a wide range of tests to determine physical and mechanical parameters (strength, stiffness and durability) of the grout, as well as tests and procedures to evaluate the sustainability of different technical solutions.
Over the last years, GEEG’s laboratory analyzed a wide range of binders, bentonites, fillers and additives from the major suppliers on the market. The investigation also covered the addition of accelerators and retarders and other special products capable of meeting specific project needs.
Among the practical applications of the research activity, GEEG is most proud of:
– a high performance two-component grout, developed for the Snowy 2.0 Hydro project (In partnership with WEBUILD), which exceeded the design requirements
of uniaxial compressive strength of 25 MPa and elastic modulus of 5 GPa at 28 days, and also proved to resist more than 1 million loading/unloading cycles;
– a low carbon grout, prepared for the Oslo E6 Clean Water Tunnel (in partnership with Ghella) with various alternative binders in order to provide a selection of mix designs that would meet the technical requirements specified by the project designers (UCS>10 MPa), while at the same time allowing a reduction in the release of alkaline compounds into the groundwater and lower embodied carbon compared to 100% Portland cement mixes;
– a self-healing grout for railway tunnel Messina-Catania Lotto Nord (in partnership with WEBUILD) containing specific additives capable of inducing the progressive closure of cracks in the backfill, as assessed via discharge measurements on cracked samples.
Management of bentonite and polymeric fluids Project 03
GEEG provides highly qualified technical and scientific support for drilling fluids characterization, mud management and separation processes for Slurry-Shield TBMs, Micro-Tunneling and other trenchless technologies. GEEG’s research activities are based on the analysis of the properties of the materials (bentonites, polymers and additives) and their interactions with the soil, prioritizing
environmental considerations while at the same time addressing the complex challenges of managing excavated soil and rocks.
GEEG carries out chemical and physical analyses essential for characterizing the products most commonly used in the formulation of drilling fluids, such as bentonites and polymers, both natural and synthetic. The testing procedures include precise and reproducible mixing methods and a comprehensive range of rheological analyses applicable to these fluids. The characterization also involves viscosity tests, gel strength assessments, permeability evaluations and studies on fluid loss and filtercake formation (also relating to hyperbaric operations).
GEEG studies the physical, rheological and chemical properties of the mud obtained from drilling fluids interacting with the soil during digging operations. Special attention is paid to the process of separating the soil from the mud, with the aim of enabling the reuse of the soil, thus promoting circular economy practices.
GEEG’s research activities have contributed to the following projects thanks to the study:
– of the interaction between bentonite slurries and soil for piles and diaphragms in partnership with ITALFERR (railway projects);
– of the interaction between polymeric fluids and soil for piles and diaphragms in partnership with GHELLA (Naples-Bari railway project) and WEBUILD (SalernoReggio Calabria railway project);
– of the interaction between bentonite and soil and on the effectiveness of the separation plants for trenchless technologies in partnership with Technip Energies, SNAM, ENEL Green Power and TERNA.
geotechnical deSign grouP
GDG (Geotechnical Design Group) is an Italian engineering company, founded in Rome in March 2015 and operating worldwide in the fields of geological, geotechnical and structural engineering. GDG’s team consists of skilled and experienced professionals, well organized and working together efficiently. We offer high-quality specialized services, from the planning of ground investigations and the mechanical characterization of soils and rocks to the geotechnical and structural design and the technical support during construction. The company’s core business is the design of tunnels adopting both traditional and mechanized excavation technologies and the assistance on-site.
Via Giovanni Andrea Badoero n. 67 – 00154 Roma
+39 389 887 8380
info@gdg-srl.it
www.geotechnicaldesigngroup.it
Project 01
NEW CASACASTALDA TUNNEL
The excavation of the new Casacastalda tunnel is part of the works required to widen the Valfabbrica-Schifanoia section of the S.S.N. 318 to two lanes in each direction.
GDG was appointed by the client (ANAS S.p.A.) for the detailed design of the works, which was completed in 2018, and is currently providing specialized technical assistance to the works direction for the excavation of the varicolored clay formation.
The new tunnel is about 1.5 km long, with a cross-section of about 130 m2 and a maximum cover of 85 m. The distance from the existing tunnel, which will remain in operation during the excavation, is about 20 m. The tunnel crosses a rock mass consisting of two alternating formations: the Marnoso-Arenacea and the varicolored clays, the former with discrete mechanical properties and the latter with poor ones. During the excavation of the existing tunnel, precisely in the area affected by the presence of the varicolored clays, an instability occurred that reached the surface. Where the presence of this material is expected, GDG’s design provides for a heavy excavation section, characterized by intensive face consolidation and a closed pre-confinement with an invert strut at the face, in order to limit the development of extrusions and convergences and to minimize the potential impact on the existing tunnel in operation.
During the construction phase, to ensure the safety of the workers, the company installs the invert strut starting from the 3rd and 4th rib from the front, as the assembly of the connecting plates with the jambe de force is done manually by the workers.
This modification causes a significant reduction in stiffness and a consequent increase in expected displacements. GDG re-calibrated the numerical predictions of the executive project, updating the 2D numerical analyses accordingly with the actual construction phases carried out on site. The results of the new simulations, carried out with reference to the medium overburden (40 m) excavation section, show that the pre-excavation displacements are approximately four times higher and the induced effects on the tunnel in operation approximately twice as high as the original design predictions. Nonetheless, these values are still acceptable as they fall within the design range;
Location:
Province of Perugia, Umbria, Italy
Client:
Anas S.p.A.
Service provided
Executive design and Work Direction assistance
Design period: 2017 – 2018
Manual connection of the invert strut.
thus, the design thresholds were updated accordingly. The monitoring data recorded in this section have confirmed the results of updated numerical predictions.
The analyses were also updated for the high overburden section (85 m). The results showed that the increase in the expected effects on the new tunnel and the existing structure was outside the acceptable range. Hence, for this section, it was planned to revert to the executive design specification of closing the tunnel lining at the face using semi-automatic ribs, which would allow the invert strut to be installed without exposing the workers to risky conditions (Maccaferri patent).
Project 02
Semi-automatic installation of the invert strut at the front.
CASAL DI PARI TUNNEL – FINAL REHABILITATION WORKS
During the works for the doubling of the Casal di Pari tunnel, along the E78 Grosseto-Siena route, large and unexpected convergences were observed and, at the same time, some damages were detected in the existing tunnel (August 2015): formation of cracks in the lining, local detachments of concrete at the crown and lifting of the road surface.
The existing tunnel was built in the 1960s and its final lining consists mainly of plain concrete, with concrete bricks sometimes located at the crown and at the springline. The tunnel was first subjected to temporary safety measures (also designed by GDG) in order to allow it to be reopened to traffic as soon as possible and to keep it operational during the excavation of the new tunnel.
Following the opening of the new tunnel, the old one was closed and the final rehabilitation works have been underway since February 2023. The rehabilitation works were designed by GDG, which submitted two possible solutions to ANAS for evaluation: i) maintaining the current road profile by partially demolishing the existing final lining (removing a thin layer) and replacing it with a new one made of reinforced concrete; ii) adapting the road profile to the current regulations by completely demolishing the existing lining, excavating a circular crown in the ground and rebuilding the first and final lining of the tunnel from scratch. ANAS opted for the first option.
The executive project involves the partial removal of the existing lining and the subsequent casting of the
new final lining. The project also provides for the use of radial nailing at the crown where, based on georadar surveys of the existing lining, removal of the existing final lining leaves an insufficient thickness to ensure adequate stability and safety conditions. In particular radial nailing is planned along the tunnel using Swellex nails and grouted Dywidag bars according to the local geological/ geotechnical context. In addition, in the most damaged part of the tunnel, a special section with increased final lining thickness and radial reinforcements at the invert will be realized. The ground treatments have been defined based on the knowledge gained from the investigations carried out on the existing tunnel and the excavation of the new adjacent tunnel.
The design of the new final lining was based on specific 2D numerical analyses calibrated by fitting the monitoring data recorded in both tunnels. The analyses were also used to assess the temporary safety conditions of the tunnel in between the partial removal of the existing lining and the casting of the new one. Finally, the analyses enabled to evaluate as negligible the effects induced on the adjacent tunnel, which is currently operational, during each construction phase.
2D numerical analyses.
Rehabilitation works.
Project 03
NEW SAN DONATO TUNNEL
As part of the widening of the “A1” Milan-Naples motorway to include a third lane, carried out by Amplia Infrastructures S.p.A, the construction of the new San Donato tunnel is planned. GDG is responsible for preparing the detailed design for construction, proposing technical modifications during construction and providing on-site assistance. The tunnel is approximately 1 km long, with an excavation cross-section of approximately 210 m2 and a maximum cover of 80 m. The tunnel is located near two existing tunnels, which remain in operation during construction. The new tunnel is excavated entirely in the Sillano formation, which consists of highly tectonised argillites.
A first major optimization was proposed by GDG to
Location: Province of Firenze, Tuscany, Italy
Client: Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A. Service provided
significantly improve the workers’ safety conditions during the lifting and installation of the ribs of the first stage support. The modification consists in the use of semi-automatic tubular ribs instead of the traditional IPN ribs. The semi-automatic ribs are installed using a special remote-controlled three-arm rib-laying machine. This modification also provided a slight improvement of the inertial properties and the resistance domain of the pre-support.
In addition, based on the analysis of the monitoring results, GDG proposed significant optimizations of the pre-consolidation works for the excavation section adopted at the north entrance, which allowed a significant reduction of the construction time. To date, the most complex optimization proposal concerns the portals and the first section of the southern part of the tunnel.
This proposal included improving the consolidation works by installing plastic piles behind the entrance diaphragm wall, modifying the excavation lowering stages and optimising the artificial tunnel. The modifications were defined based on the results of 2D and 3D finite element numerical analyses, which showed that the proposed solution matched the performance of the existing design while allowing a significant reduction in construction time.
South portal.
Invert construction: installation of the steel bars reinforcement.
ITALFERR
Italferr S.p.A. is the engineering company of the Italian State Railways Group which, since 1984, embodies the success of great Italian engineering consolidated over more than 35 years of experience in large infrastructure projects for conventional and High-Speed railways, metropolitan and road transport, design of civil works, ports and stations, and integrated technological solutions for the efficiency and intermodality of rail and urban mobility, in Italy and worldwide. Italferr plays a key role within the FS Group’s new “Infrastructure Hub” for the development of sustainable, accessible, integrated road and rail works that dialogue with each other.
The higly qualified body of staff and its specialist knowhow fron the very best in engineering tradition not only allow Italferr to play a strategic role in the modernization and development of the national rail network but also provides it with excellent standing in the international market, where it operates fulfilling important contracts.
Via Vito Giuseppe Galati, 71 - 00155 Roma
direzione.strategie@italferr.it
www.italferr.it
FLORENCE HS BY PASS Project 01
The bypass is the urban stretch of a new High Speed/High Capacity line that runs for about 7 kilometres underground with two parallel tunnels 20 metres below the surface, completed with two above-ground terminal sections – to the north between the Firenze Castello and Firenze Rifredi stations and to the south near the Firenze Campo di Marte station. The new line will allow reduced journey times for HS services that currently stop at Santa Maria Novella station.
The project mainly involves the construction of two single-track tunnels, 5 km long, starting from “Firenze Campo di Marte” railway station (Southern portal) to “Firenze Rifredi” railway station (Northern portal). Along the underground route, in the Belfiore-Macelli area about 1 kilometre from the existing central station of Firenze Santa Maria Novella, the new Florence HS/HC station will be built, designed by the architectural firm Foster and the engineering company Ove Arup. The underground works also include bypasses for safety requirements, ventilation shafts, and a drainage shaft. The tunnels are mostly bored through alluvial deposit made up of clayey, silty and sandy layers with gravels, under the water table, with an overburden ranging from 7 m to 25 m.
The two tunnels run parallel, enlarging in two double-track tunnels in both sides of the new underground HS railway station. Each of these double-track tunnels is about 60 m long. They allow railway switches and they are referred to as “priority tunnels”.
Location:
Lazio - Attigliano-Viterbo railway line
Client:
RFI - Rete Ferroviaria Italiana
Consortium:
ETS, RFI, MICOS
Service provided:
Survey, digitalization, detailed design and works for securing Sipicciano 1 existing tunnel
Design period:
2019 - 2022
The single-track tunnels are excavated by EPBs (Earth Pressure Balance system) TBM with a diameter of 9.4m, while the “priority tunnels” will be excavated using conventionale method and freezing technology for ground improvement and waterproofing.
The project is indeed complex as the tunnels underpass historical buildings with low overburden. Among the main interferences under passed by the tunnels Fortezza da Basso has to be cited: this monument is located in the hearth of Florence; it was ordered by Alessandro dei Medici and it was built between 1534 and 1537. Moreover, tunnelling works interfere with existing High Speed railway lines connecting the North with the South of Italy.
These constraints have required the adoption of advanced technical solutions as the application of compensation grouting technique in case of existing buildings and low overburden and in case of monument, as Fortezza da Basso, ground improvement activities by grout injections in order to reduce the impact with buildings and an extensive and real time monitoring system during excavation to control settlements. Tunnelling works started in November 2023 and about 300 m have been already bored (January 2024). Italferr plays the role of Works Supervisor and Environmental Monitoring activities for the Florence construction sites.
Project 02
INFRASTRUCTURAL UPGRADING OF THE JONIC LINE
The project is included in the Institutional Development Contract for the completion of the “Salerno-Reggio Calabria” railway line. This contract was signed on December 19, 2012, among the Ministry for Territorial Cohesion, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, the Calabria, Campania and Basilicata Regions, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. and Rete Ferroviaria Italiana S.p.A..
The project envisages the infrastructural upgrading by means of speeding up the Lamezia Terme-Settingiano section and the electrification of the Lamezia Terme-Catanzaro Lido and Sibari-Crotone-Catanzaro Lido extents. These planned interventions will increase the performance of the network enhancing the connections between the Ionian and Tyrrhenian lines and improving accessibility to/ from the Lamezia airport. Moreover, the electrification and
technological upgrade will contribute to standardizing the characteristics of the Calabrian railway network in terms of traction systems.
The total investment of the project is about 438 Mln €, partially financed with PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan). The design phase ended in 2022, while the tender was published in 2023; the activation is expected in 2026 by means of different phases.
The project is divided into three functional lots:
Lot 1 - Speeding up the Lamezia Terme–Settingiano section (partly through plano-altimetric variations and elevation of the existing route, and partly through variations of the route on new ground alongside the historical line) and electrification of the Lamezia Terme–Catanzaro Lido section. The intervention has a value of approximately 165.5 Mln€. The 12 tunnels between Lamezia Terme and Catanzaro Lido extend for a total of about 7.7 km, covering approximately 6% of the route. The single-track line was completed and opened to traffic in 1899.
Lot 2A - Electrification of the Sibari–Crotone section (112 km) that has a value of about 47 Mln€.
Lot 2B - Electrification of the Crotone–Catanzaro Lido
section (approximately 58 km) that has a value of approximately 28.5 Mln€. Along the route, the Cutro tunnel is present, constructed in 1874, with a length of about 2.7 km and overburden up to about 130 m in the central part where the structure passes under the town of Cutro. The tunnel is single-track with a polycentric section and features a lining of brick masonry. To ensure the electrification of the tunnel and resolve clearance interferences, appropriate planimetric and/or altimetric route variations were defined with the replacement of the existing track. The demolition and reconstruction of the tunnel invert have been designed for a length of 70 m, lowering the trackbed and realizing micro piles and consolidation injections both in the vault and under the invert.
The new High-Speed railway line Salerno – Reggio Calabria Project 032
The new High-Speed railway line Salerno – Reggio Calabria aims to ensure greater accessibility to the railway system and to develop new passenger traffic along the northsouth axis of the peninsula, benefiting connections to and from Sicily as well. This project falls within the European framework as part of the “Scandinavia – Mediterranean” Core Network Corridor, also known as the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). Upon completion of the entire project, a reduction in the Rome-Reggio Calabria journey time of up to 4 hours depending on the operating model. Three corridors were identified in the feasibility study. The project is particularly complex due to the length of the route and the topography of the terrain, requiring the construction of numerous structures such as viaducts and tunnels. The project is divided into six functional lots, with Lot 1 further divided in 3 sub-lots (1a, 1b, 1c).
Considering the scale of the project, some priority lots have been identified: Lot 1, Lot 2, and the doubling of Paola/S. Lucido-Cosenza. Lot 1a Battipaglia – Romagnano is included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan with completion expected in 2026. The completion of works for the Cosenza-Paola/S.Lucido and Lot 1b RomagnanoBuonabitacolo is scheduled for 2030, and Lot 1c Buonabitacolo - Praia is expected to be completed by 2032.
Lot 1a, currently in the construction stage, spans approximately 48 km, with almost 18 km underground. Lots 1b and 1c, along with the Cosenza-Paola/S.Lucido, currently in the tender design stage, cover circa 99 km, with 72 km underground. Lots 2 and 6 are in the feasibility analysis stage of alternative.
Among the underground works included in the lots under design, the Lagonegro tunnel in Lot 1b, with a length of 22 km, is the longest. The tunnel, except for an initial section of clayey and marly nature, passes mainly through carbonate formations with geomechanical conditions ranging from low to extreme tectonization, with maximum covers of 560 m and groundwater loads up to 300 m water head above the tunnel.
The main potential critical elements for the underground work are related to the high hydraulic load, both during construction and operation stage, to karst phenomena and to high tectonic disturbance.
Lombardi
Lombardi has been established in 1955 and is an international consultancy company providing multidisciplinary customized engineering services for transport, underground, water infrastructures and renewable energy for both the private and public sectors worldwide. Lombardi Group consists of 21 offices spread over 12 countries in 4 continents with over 900 professionals with an annual turnover of about 100M EUR. In 2023 Lombardi Group was ranked 101st among the world “Top 225 International Design Firms” compiled by Engineering News Record. Lombardi has been present in Italy with Lombardi Ingegneria since 1997, with offices in Milan, Turin and Rome. Lombardi is specialized in underground works, hydropower, dam design, specialized studies and possesses a vast and extensive international experience in engineering consultancy services for the underground sector, spanning every phase, from the initial concept design to the technical advisory services for the infrastructure operation.
Project 01
SNOWY 2.0
Snowy 2.0 is a Pumped Storage Power Plant (PSPP).
It is a major pumped-hydro expansion of the existing Snowy Scheme, located in the Kosciuszko National Park (New South Wales, Australia). It will increase the scheme’s generation capacity by 2’200 MW (the largest committed renewable energy project in Australia).
The project involves linking two existing dams, Tantangara and Talbingo, through 27km of tunnels and building a new underground power station.
The geological-geomechanical context include rocky formations (Dacitic, Sedimentary and Metabasal along HRT and Siltstone and Conglomerates along TRT) with an overburden between 200m to 750m. In underground activities asbestos situations, water inflows, fault crossings have been considered in terms of risks. The underground works design, developed using BIM (Building Information Modeling), includes different tunnel cross sections varying between 30 sm to 150 sm in area.
Location:
Australia, New South Wales, Kosciuszko National Park
Client:
Snowy Hydro Limited
Contractor:
Future Generation Joint Venture
Designer:
Lombardi Ingegneria srl, Lombardi SA, Tractebel Engineering S.A., Coffey Engineering Group
Kind of service provided: Preliminary Design,Detail Design, Issue For Construction, BIM modeling, assistance during construction
End of the works: December 2028
Fig. 1
Snowy 2.0 main scheme
Lombardi is responsible for the preliminary design, detail design, issue for construction including civil engineering, alignment, and BIM activities.
Project 02
Fig. 2
Snowy 2.0 Power House Complex scheme BIM Model
S.S. 340 “REGINA” – TREMEZZINA DIVERSION ROAD
“Tremezzina Diversion” project was defined to strongly reduce traffic on the western coast of Como Lake by the construction of a new internal road that integrates a system of tunnels and bridges.
The strategic value of this infrastructure lays with the complex local context, related to dense urban zones strongly oriented to tourism. The new road alignment, for its great portion realized in tunnel, will allow to bypass a long anthropized coastal stretch, ameliorating local movement as well long distance one.
The works include Comacina (main tunnel L=3503m, service tunnel L=3514m), Perlana (main tunnel L=1927m, service
1 - General overview
Location: Italy, Lombardia, Western coast of Como Lake
Kind of service provided: Support in during bid, Detail design, BIM modeling
End of the works: April 2028
Fig.
tunnel L=2033m) Bonzanigo (L=53m) and Tremezzina (main tunnel L=2569m, service tunnel L=2995 m) tunnels, Perlana (main bridge L=32m, service bridge L=19m) and Azzano (L=55m) bridges, Colonno (L=200m) and Griante (L=320m) diversion tunnels.
The geological-geomechanical context include rocky formations and presence of soils. In underground activities karstic situations, water inflows, fault crossings have been considered in terms of risks. The underground road design was developed by the use of BIM. Lombardi assisted the Contractor (SIS ScpA) during the bidding process and submission. After the award, Lombardi developed the detail design including civil engineering, hydraulic, transport, environment, safety, M&E, and BIM activities.
Fig. 3 - Southern tunnel accesses
Mumbai Coastal Road Package IV Project 03
Mumbai Coastal Road Package IV, part of a big project that will realize a new important link inside the city, includes two mechanized tunnels (each one approx. 2000m long) excavated by a slurry machine. With an excavation diameter of 12.19m, the lining consists of an universal precast ring made by 8 segments (37.5cm thick). With cross passages every 300 m realized in conventional method (main tunnel have interrexes equal to 20m), the infrastructure is completed by two portions realized by tranches and cut & cover method that connect the surface to the tunnel accesses. In term of concept, the cross section includes a culvert under the transit surface useful to host every plant. The excavation was conducted in high quality rock, with complex passages at the edges of the bored portion (break-in and break-out zones), where overburden was limited and the presence of buildings represented a complexity. Being the excavation always under the sea level, the management of waters and the head pressure strategy were very important topics.
Activity started from launch shaft with a first TBM
Location: Mumbai, India
Client:
Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai
Contractor:
LARSEN & TUBRO
Designer:
Lombardi
Kind of service provided: Detail design End of the works: November 2023
Fig. 1 – Work overview
excavation to end at arrival shaft, located at East of Malabar Hill. For the second tunnel the process was repeated bringing the machine to the launch shaft for a second dig.
For Mumbai Coastal Road Package IV, Lombardi developed the Detail Design including civil engineering, M&E and BIM activities.
Fig. 2 – Mechanized tunnel: inside view
MM Spa is a Company founded in 1955 by the Milan Municipality to design and build the first Metro lines for the city. From then on, it has participated in the construction and management of the city’s major infrastructures. MM is today one of the biggest and most diversified Italian engineering companies with a growing international footprint and capable of providing bespoke solutions in engineering design, redevelopment and renovation project of buildings and infrastructures of urban areas. With more than 60 years of activity in the field of rapid mass transport systems engineering, in Italy and abroad, MM has designed and supervised the construction of: traditional, light and driverless metros tram and LRT lines rail lines − airports, motorways, and other roadworks. Our services also include assistance to the public authorities and engineering design inspection. MM is a contracting authority qualified for managing tenders in many sectors taking advantage of the broad spectrum of competences and experience in the engineering, infrastructures management and field operations.
Via del Vecchio Politecnico n.8 - Milano
info@mmspa.eu
www.mmspa.eu
Stacked tunnels stations along Chennai Metro Rail, Phase 2, Corridor 4 Project 01
From 2019 to 2022, MM SpA carried out the detailed design for tunnels and structural works related to the huge infrastructure of Underground section of Corridor 4 of Chennai Metro Line, characterized by a very high population density, narrow streets, in the order of 8-10m wide, and Right of Way on average 14m.
Typical stations with parallel tracks and island platforms are normally used for metro stations: this allows to reduce construction costs and the vertical journey of passengers from the street level to the trains. Unfortunately, this type of station has a width not fitted to the size of the roads overhead. The solution was to act on the alignment, moving the tracks (hence, the twin-tunnels), from a parallel to a stacked configuration before reaching the stations located below narrow roads reducing the acquisition of private areas, the demolition and resettlement of adjacent buildings with high social impact.
The Stacked Stations are therefore composed of a very narrow main box, which vary from 11 to 14.5m width, in which only the train runway and platforms are located. Next to this, an “appendix core” is built in which the internal means of vertical transportation and all the main shafts for the passage of the systems are inserted. Land acquisition is one of the most challenging issues, from both an economic and procedural point of view, while building a metro station in a highly urbanized area. The solution with stacked tracks made it possible to reduce on average the acquisition of private properties by 55% compared to the forecasts. Structurally, the greatest challenges in the construction of this station are related to the very narrow width of the site during excavation and diaphragm walls casting. The high depth of these stations is also a matter of concern during excavation phase. Finally, based on the tunnels’ construction sequence, additional supports shall be applied to the upper platform slab during the TBM’s passage if the lower levels have already been excavated.
On the previous page, up: Typical stacked station level functional areas. On the left: Transition from parallel to stacked tunnels-3D. On the right: Transition from parallel to stacked tunnels
Location: Chennai (India);
Client: Chennai Metro Rail Limited; Design Period: 2019-2022; Service provided: From Concept up to construction Reference Design
Milan Metro line 5 - Extension to Monza – Bored Tunnel widening to implement M5-M1 overpass Project 02
During the design phase for the extension of Milan Metro Line 5 to Monza, MM SpA took on the task of implementing the intersection between the ongoing construction of Metro Line M1 and the future extension of Line M5 from Sesto FS to Monza.
The project demanded meticulous adjustments to the ongoing works to facilitate the forthcoming construction of the M5 tunnel above the operational M1 line, all while ensuring uninterrupted service. The challenge arose as the two tunnels intersected over a span of approximately 25 meters, with the existing bored tunnel of M1 already excavated beneath a 10-meter cover. The excavation, boasting dimensions of approximately 12 meters in width and 8 meters in height, was completed by preliminary lining of top section comprising metal ribs and reinforced spritz-beton, along with the casting of the invert arch.
Geotechnically, the tunnel traversed through layers of sand and gravel, with the aquifer level hovering just a few meters above the excavation’s bottom, intersecting with the invert.
Complicating matters, the fixed height of the M5 tunnel track posed interference with the top section of the final lining designed for M1. The new solution, developed by the Contractor in agreement with the Client, consisted in a modified tunnel section obtained lowering the tunnel ceiling and widening the current excavation in order to modify the final M1 lining according to geometrical and static requirements set by the overpassing M5 artificial tunnel. Prior to enlarging the excavated section, it was imperative to fortify the consolidated ground layer surrounding the cable contour. This entailed demolishing the existing invert and establishing a pad of consolidated soil beneath it through the application of cement and chemical injections, mitigating water infiltration during deepening of the excavation.
The process of cement and chemical injections was executed meticulously, both from within the tunnel and from the surface, utilizing VTR pipes equipped with valves to facilitate selective and repetitive injections. These injections were precisely calibrated in terms of volumes and controlled pressures, ensuring that the injected mixtures
Location: Cinisello (Milan-Italy); Client: Milan Municipality; Design period: 2022;
Service provided: Site supervision technical support and coordination
Ground consolidation and design sections
permeated the ground, consolidating it and significantly reducing permeability until the final design section was completed.
Cast in place lowered tunnel ceiling
Bored tunnel enlargement
PINI GROUP
Pini Group is a major European engineering group, which has developed over the years through a targeted expansion of the original core company founded in Switzerland over 70 years ago.
The group has multidisciplinary characteristics and a workforce of more than 800 employees, offering comprehensive design and consultancy services in 5 languages.
In 2022, thanks to the acquisition of the Geodata Group, it was able to consolidate its knowledge base, with the addition of further areas of specialisation and high-level professional resources, expanding its presence in 25 countries.Today, this allows the PINI GROUP to boast the construction of over 4,000 km of tunnels and more than 3,500 projects worldwide relating to:
– metros
– traditional and high-speed railways
– roads and motorways
– dams and hydroelectric plants
– geology and the environment
– as well as unique experience in managing and solving complex problems concerning:
– excavation in urban areas
– long and deep tunnels
– complex underground structures
– geological, hydrogeological and environmental risk.
via Cavour n. 2 - 22074, Lomazzo (CO) IT
italia@pini.group
www.pini.group
Project 01
Scaletta and Quali Tunnels
Messina – Catania Railway Line, Second Functional Taormina-Giampilieri Lot
In 2021 the Owner of Italian Rail Network (RFI) awarded to the Contractor Webuild S.p.A in consortium with Pizzarotti S.p.A the design and build of Second Functional Taormina-Giampilieri Lot, a subsection of the Messina –Catania Railway Line. The Project consists in a new high capacity 28,3 km long railway line between Taormina and Giampilieri, and consists in the execution of 8 tunnels, 14 viaducts and other minor sections in embankment and trench. The Contractor awarded the detailed design to the consortium Pini Group S.r.l, Rocksoil S.p.A and Proger S.p.A. Pini Group S.r.l carried out the design of the Quali and Scaletta Tunnels, which have a length of 4,16 and 2,7 km respectively and are two of the main underground works of the Project. The configuration of the tunnels is two tubes single track with exception of a 199 m long section at the southern portal of the tunnel Quali, where a cavern is foreseen to allow the transition to a single tube double tracks configuration. The single-track tunnels will
Location: Provinces of Messina and Catania, Sicily, Italy
Client: Webuild S.p.A., Pizzarotti S.p.A.
Design period: 2021 – 2022, currently under construction
Service provided: Detailed Design, On-site assistance services.
Consortium: Pini Group S.r.l., Rocksoil S.p.A. and Proger S.p.A.
be excavated with TBM and have an internal diameter of 8 m. The tunnels intercept sedimentary, carbonate and metamorphic rocks, mainly below the water table, with a maximum overburden of 145 m and a maximum hydraulic head up to 90 m. The variability of the ground conditions leads the adoption of a dual mode TBM, that will be operated in EPB mode trough weak rocks and faulted zones, in open mode in good rock mass conditions. Length and conicity of the shield and capability in over-excavation have been defined to avoid the risk of jamming of TBM. To minimize risks related to faulted zones, the TBM is equipped with high number of drilling ports for the execution of drainages and grouting in advance. To increase the efficiency of the excavation process, the machine is equipped with a system for continuous mining. The design of the segmental lining foresees the adoption of universal ring system, the ring is composed by 7+0 segments with thickness 40 cm and width 1,8 m.
Project 02
Calatabiano Tunnel Messina – Catania Railway Line, First Functional
Fiumefreddo – Taormina Lot
In 2021 the Owner of Italian Rail Network (RFI) awarded to the Contractor Webuild S.p.A in consortium with Pizzarotti S.p.A the design and build of First Functional Fiumefreddo - Taormina-Lot, a subsection of the Messina – Catania Railway Line. The Project consists in a new high capacity 13,8 km long railway between Fiumefreddo and Taormina, and consists in the execution of 3 tunnels, a cut and cover tunnel, 2 viaducts, the underground Taormina station and other minor sections in embankment and trench. The Contractor awarded the detailed design of the project to the consortium Pini Group S.r.l, Rocksoil S.p.A and Proger S.p.A. Pini Group S.r.l carried out the design of Calatabiano and Interconnessione Tunnels and of the cut and cover Fiumefreddo Tunnel. Calatabiano Tunnel is a single tube double track TBM tunnel with length 3,3 km and 11 m internal diameter. In the southern portion of the alignment, the tunnel will be excavated in silty clay soils at relatively shallow depth, mainly smaller than 30 m;
Location: Provinces of Messina and Catania, Sicily, Italy
Client:
Webuild S.p.A., Pizzarotti S.p.A.
Design period: 2021 – 2023, currently under construction
Service provided:
Detailed Design, On-site assistance services.
Consortium: Pini Group S.r.l., Rocksoil S.p.A. and Proger S.p.A.
the northern portion runs through sedimentary rocks and local faults zones below the water table, with a maximum overburden of 145 m and a maximum hydraulic head of 60 m. The presence of soft soils and weak rocks lead to the adoption of an EPB TBM. Due to the presence of gas, the TBM will be equipped with a configuration ATEX. The segmental lining is composed by universal rings with 8+1 segments of thickness 50 cm and width 1,8 m. Three emergency exits are foreseen for the exodus of passengers and access for rescue teams. Two of them are located at shallow depths and will be realized in vertical shafts, one of them is located at relatively big depth and will be realized within a pedestrian tunnel. The shafts have a rectangular shape, the excavation is foreseen in top-down while the construction of the final lining is foreseen in bottom-up. Pedestrian tunnel will be realized in conventional mode, by full-face excavation and reinforcement of the ground in advance.
Interconnessione Letojanni Tunnel Messina – Catania Railway Line, First Functional Fiumefreddo – Taormina Lot Project 03
In 2021 the Owner of Italian Rail Network (RFI) awarded to the Contractor Webuild S.p.A in consortium with Pizzarotti S.p.A the design and build of First Functional Fiumefreddo - Taormina-Lot, a subsection of the Messina – Catania Railway Line. The Project consists in a new high capacity 13,8 km long railway between Fiumefreddo and Taormina, and consists in the execution of 3 tunnels, a cut and cover tunnel, 2 viaducts, the underground Taormina station and other minor sections in embankment and trench. The Contractor awarded the detailed design of the project to the consortium Pini Group S.r.l, Rocksoil S.p.A and Proger S.p.A. Pini Group S.r.l carried out the design of the tunnels Calatabiano and Interconnessione Letojanni and of the cut and cover tunnel Fiumefreddo. Interconnessione Tunnel is a single tube single track 1,1 km long tunnel which connects the new railway line at the underground Station of Taormina, with the historical line at the Station of Letojanni. The cross section is polycentric with internal height of 8 m and internal width of 7 m. The tunnel runs through sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks and local faults zones below the water table, with a maximum overburden of 90 m and a maximum hydraulic head of 50 m. The tunnel will be realized in conventional mode, by full-face excavation and reinforcement of the
Location: Provinces of Messina and Catania, Sicily, Italy
Client:
Webuild S.p.A., Pizzarotti S.p.A.
Design period: 2021 – 2023, currently under construction
Service provided:
Detailed Design, On-site assistance services
Consortium: Pini Group S.r.l., Rocksoil S.p.A. and Proger S.p.A.
ground in advance. The most challenging aspect of the Project is the construction of the first 35 m of tunnel at the Letojanni portal, where the tunnel alignment underpass, with a very limited depth of cover, two strategic roads: the Highway A18 and National Road SS118. To limit the tunneling induced surface settlements on the roadways, the design foresees several protection measures, to be realized both from the ground surface and inside the tunnel. To minimize the times of traffic stops during the works, a complex sequence of construction phases was elaborated to make feasible the realization of temporary traffic deviations in very narrow spaces.
PRO ITER
Founded in 1998, Pro Iter is an engineering company specialised in design and works management of infrastructures (transport of people, goods and fluids, buildings, ports, sea and river works, production of energy from renewable sources, hydroelectric power plants). Its field of activity covers all possible project phases, from the feasibility study to the detailed and for construction design, and all possible project components, through the integrated functions of its sectors: Roads and Layouts, Structural Works and Special Buildings, Special Foundations and Underground Works, Works Management and Safety, Technical-Economic Analyses, Hydrology and Hydraulics, Geology and Geotechnics, Environment and Sustainability, BIM Technology. It has a background of more than 400 km of designed tunnels. Basing its activity on innovation andat the same time – to an artisanal attention to the quality and sustainability, has made a distinguished reputation for itself in Italian engineering.
+39 02 6787911 via G.B. Sammartini, 5 20125 Milano (MI)
mail@proiter.it
www.proiter.it
Project 01
Research and Development Project - 2019
Our Geo & BIM R&D experts have developed, together with the scientists of the Milano Bicocca University, new tools and work flows (including the geomodelling software PZero) integrating within our BIM based design protocols the 3D/4D geological and geotechnical models, also offering an unvaluable tool for the management of the project reliability, uncertainties & risks. Since geological modelling and BIM require dedicated algorithms and softwares, these two functions cannot be seamlessly integrated in a single platform, hence our workflow links different softwares in a standard, reliable and smooth sequence of modelling tasks. Similarly to a Geographic Information System, in PZero the geometrical/topological components of geological models are stored in geometrical/topological primitives, that are linked to tables recording lithological, geotechnical/geomechanical, hydrogeological properties, etc. Other tables record metadata related to how the geological model was reconstructed and to reliability/uncertainty. Geometrical/ topological primitives with their associated properties are exported from PZero in a suitable format and imported and reconnected in BIM, resulting in a BIM representation of the geo-model. The overall resulting design model can be effectively updated e.g. when new geological data are made available, transparently tracing these updates incrementally in a comprehensive ìtimelineî. In our workflow the BIM is the place where the engineering team carrying out design, construction or maintenance tasks interacts with both the engineering and geological data and models. It is worth noting that the geological modelling tool leaves the ìsteering wheelî of geological data processing and analysis in the hand of the specialist geologist, maximising its competence, avoiding any uncontrolled, automatic data treatment and processing.
Merano By-pass Road Lot 2 road tunnel in urban environment Project 02
The tunnel has a total length of about 2200 m. A western section of Cut&Cover Tunnel (L=136 m, Span=30 m approx., Top-Down excavation with retaining walls of anchored piles, diameter 1.5 m), connects to the previous Lot 1, already in operation, and to the surface road system. A subsequent section of conventional underground excavation (L=2064 m), for approximately the first km, runs through the city center with shallow overburden (< 10 m), underpassing several buildings, in loose soils (alluvial deposits) and with water table possibly interfering with its lower part. This stretch has been carried-out via systematic jet-grouting injections on the boundary and the front face, with a sawtooth geometry and different overlaps, depending on the boundary conditions. Moving eastward, the tunnel runs through metamorphic rock
formations (phyllites, gneisses and mica schists) with overburdens up to about 100 m and geomechanical class varying between III and IV (Bieniawski 1989), and crosses the Periadriatic Fault, between the Southalpine and the Austroalpine units. The standard section of the tunnel has a two-way roadway with an internal width of 11.8 m (excavation area 150 m2, W = 15 m x H = 11 m). The roadway platform widens at the 4 lay-bys provided along the route (2 in the rocky section and 2 in the loose soil section) and in the sections housing the entrance and exit lanes, at the eastern entrance (platform width = 15.1 m) and in the first section to the west (platform width = 15.5 m, excavation area 240 m2, W = 21 m x H = 13 m, L=160 m). Due to its great width and its underpass of a crucial surface crossroad, this stretch has been excavated via cement mix injection from radial sleeved pipes, forming a strengthened soil thickness of 4.5 m. Finally, at about one km from the eastern portal, an underground roundabout with a total diameter of about 42 m, supported by a central rock pillar with a diameter of 8 m, provides the access to a future underground parking lot.
Location: South Tyrol, Italy
Client: Consorzio San Benedetto Scarl
Owner:
Autonomous Province of Bolzano
Kind of service provided: For Construction design, Assistance during construction
Execution period: 2020-ongoing
Amount of works:
100.000.000€
Road 16 Highway tunnels on new urban penetration axis from Tel Aviv Project 03
Complex construction, in urban environment with conventional excavation, of two twin-tunnels, Har Nof and Yefe Nof. The Har Nof tunnel (L=1400 m, maximum overburden 140 m) has two traffic lanes, with a roadbed width of 10 m. Near the South-East adit, the platform widens up to 14.7 m in the North tube and 19.0 m in the South tube (deceleration and acceleration lanes). The Yefe Nof tunnel (L=1250 m, maximum overburden 80 m) has three traffic lanes, with a roadbed width of 13.6 m. At the North-West adit, two independent inbound and outbound underground ramps, were connected to the main axes within two big chambers (road platform width of 22.5 m). The same width is also provided at the South-East adit in the South tube (deceleration lane), while in the opposite tube the platform widens to 14.7 m (acceleration lane). In correspondence with these challenging excavations, with reduced distance between the tubes and the presence of overburdens < 10 m, both tubes under-passed three soccer fields to be kept constantly serviceable during the excavation. Shortly after, they run parallel to a main hospital with overburdens
Kind of service provided: Preliminary, Detailed and For Construction
Design, Assistance during construction
Execution period: 2018-2023
Amount of works: 50.000.000 €
of 30-40 m and under-passed its underground multi-story parking lot. Along both tunnels routes there are lay-bys at a maximum distance of 500 m and pedestrian and driveway cross-passages every 250 m. The biggest sections (excavation W=25 m, A=300 m2 approximately) were carried out with an original sequence. The subsoil crossed was generally of rather competent dolomite and limestone with sub-horizontal stratification, subject to large karst phenomena, to be handled with special preventive measures. A stretch of predominantly marly formation, presenting an alternation of limestone and marly strata of metric order, had geomechanical characteristics significantly inferior to limestones and were potentially subject to swelling phenomena. Moreover, being characterized by low permeability, they represented aquiclude for the overlying limestone-dolomitic formation.
RockSoil
Rocksoil was founded in 1979 to provide design, consulting and technical assistance for civil engineering projects. The company specializes in rock and soil mechanics, hydrology and hydrogeology and also in research on the development of new technologies. The company, led right from the beginning by Pietro Lunardi, consisted of a closely knit team of specialists and experts and it immediately established itself as a leader in its field, thanks to the development and introduction of innovative technologies. The growth of the company and the increasing importance of the commissioned projects led to its transformation, in 1989, into a joint stock company, Rocksoil S.p.A., 105 employees (2023) based in the headquarter of Milan. Its size puts it between a consulting partnership and an engineering company, maintaining the flexibility and responsibility of the individual experts of the former, while gaining the advantages of the specialist integration and organization of the latter.
Project 01
CERN: Civil-engineering works for the High-Luminosity LHC – Point 1
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the most recent and powerful accelerator constructed on the CERN site. The LHC machine accelerates and collides proton beams but also heavier ions up to lead. It is installed in a 27 km circumference tunnel, about 100 m underground. The LHC design is based on superconducting twin-aperture magnets which operate in a superfluid helium bath at a temperature of 1.9 K. The new equipment for the High-Luminosity LHC requires new civil-engineering structures on the sites of the ATLAS experiment in Meyrin, Switzerland (LHC Point 1) and the CMS experiment in Cessy, France (LHC Point 5). On each site, the underground constructions consist of:
– vertical shaft (80m deep & 10m diameter)
– underground service cavern (16m diameter & 46m long)
– Tunnel for accelerator equipment and infrastructures (300m long)
– 4 galleries (≈ 50m length) connecting the new structures to the LHC accelerator tunnel.
The Point 1 site lies in an area covered by Würm Quaternary moraine deposits between two outcrops of Molasse. The
Location:
Geneva, Switzerland
Client:
CERN
Consortium: Rocksoil, SETEC & CSD
Kind of service provided: Consultancy service contracts for design and construction administration at Point 1
Execution period: 2016-2023
Würmienne moraine is a base moraine and consists of compact and consolidated relatively dense sandy silt with variable amount of sand, clay, 15-30% of 60-100mm dia. cobbles and hard to very hard gravel. The Molasse consists of sub-horizontal bedded lenses of sedimentary rock composed of grain sizes, with a progressive lateral and vertical spatial grading ranging from clay to sand. Geotechnical risks: Excavation difficulties related to the hardness of sandstone molasses; Marly tectonized molasses characteristics and ‘marl grumeleuse’ characteristics; Swelling of marly molasses or marly tectonized molasses; Monitoring of the existing LHC tunnel during the works; Sensitive aspects: Project logistics; Waterproofing system (CERN structures that host many electrical equipmentc); Interactions between the excavation of the new tunnels and the existing underground structures; Excavation of the cores and realization of the openings in the existing LHC tunnel.
Brenner Base Tunnel: the Isarco River Underpass Section Project 02
The “Isarco River Underpass” Section is the southern segment of the Brenner Base Tunnel, before entering the railway station at Fortezza. The project has a total length of 5629 m, 4842 m in conventional tunnel and 787 m in Cut&Cover. Tunnels have been excavated full-face; the variable geological context required different section for excavation. The river underpass is with low overburden (5.08.0m) within a complex geotechnical and hydrogeological context, for this reason the underground excavation could take place only after ground improvement. Several ground improvement techniques have been designed for the works execution. The 4 tunnels, strictly related to the Isarco river underpass, have a length variable between 56 m and 63m and they have been excavated starting from the shafts. The adopted ground improvement techniques have been executed from the 4 shafts. The pre-grouting intervention allows to minimize the water flow. The typical section of advancing considers 66 drill holes for the cement grout and 88 drill holes for the installation of freezing probes with length up to 35 meters.
Location: Fortezza, Italy
Client: RFI
Contractor:
Webuild, Strabag, Collini
Kind of service provided: Detailed Design
Execution period: 2014-2023
The Isarco River Underpass passes through the alluvial deposit of the valley bottom and through the dejection conoids of the tributary rivers. In case of loose soils of quaternary origin the applied excavation section considers pre-consolidation intervention around the cavity and at the core-face, aimed creating the conditions of stability and waterproofing of the natural soil. The truncated cone ‘umbrellas’ realized by sub-horizontal columns create a precontainment structure in the ground before its excavation, with the creation of “arch effect” which minimizes the deformations. The reinforcement of the core-face by means of sub-horizontal jet grouting column acts directly on the consistency of the advance core, improving its natural strength and deformation characteristics. The performed interventions made the cavity and the advance core waterproofed allowing to perform the excavation in hydrostatic condition.
Milan Metro Line 4: from east to west crossing the downtown Project 03
Line M4 will cross Milan with a length of about 15 km from west to east along Viale Lorenteggio, through the south of the old town and along the axes of Forlanini up to Linate Airport. The central part is very close to the historical downtown and the interference with the pre-existing, especially the monumental and archaeological heritage, shall be carefully investigated. Most of the underground construction on the route has been carried out by mechanized tunnelling performed through Earth Pressure Balance with the use of two TBM geometries. The TBMs with diameters of approximately 6.36 m have been used for the sections from Manufatto Ronchetto, in the San Cristoforo area, to the Parco Solari station and from Linate Airport to the Tricolore station (2 from east and 2 from west). The two TBMs with a diameter of 9.15 m have been used for the section from the Parco Solari to the Tricolore station. The largest machines have been used in the section through the deep stations (Sant’Ambrogio, De Amicis, Vetra, Santa Sofia, Sforza Policlinico and San Babila) in the historic centre in order to enable the installation of the station platforms directly inside the inner contour of the tunnel in segments. The functional installation is composed of a central shaft
Location:
Milan, Italy
Client:
Municipality of Milan
Contractor:
Metro Blu (Webuild, Astaldi)
Kind of service provided: Detailed Design of running Tunnels and Deep Stations
Execution period: 2016-in progress (scheduled September 2024)
with an excavation depth up to approximately 30 m and transverse dimensions limited to ap-proximately 10 m. A fundamental aspect of metro line design is the evaluation of the excavation interference. In case of M4 metro line a study to assess the interference between underground excavations and the existing buildings has been developed. The subsidence basins and the settlements related to the excavations have been evaluated to assess the expected damage class for each building. Tunnels excavation have been completed in September 2020 (without recording particular deformation phenomena), on 26th November Linate Airport-Dateo Section has been opened and from 4th July 2023 the M4 reaches San Babila guarantee the connection with red line M1.
SYSTRA SWS
SYSTRA, global leader in engineering and consulting for public transport and underground engineering, has over 65 years of experience aiding urban development through infrastructure projects. With a presence in 150+ countries and a workforce of 11,000+ employees, SYSTRA has a team of over 800 tunneling experts, who has designed more than 3,400 km of tunnels globally. The Group has expanded its tunneling expertise through recent acquisitions: SYSTRA SWS, Italian-based designers of the world’s longest rail tunnel, the 64km Brenner Base Tunnel; SYSTRA Subterra from Spain, with a strong South American presence and tunneling knowledge; and SYSTRA Bamser from Australia, experts in underground and D&B infrastructures.
sales.sws@systra.com
Via della Stazione 27, 38123 Trento www.swsglobal.com
Project 01
E6 Rentvannstunnel
The E6 project is part of a major undertaking by the City of Oslo Municipality to provide water supply security through a new clean water tunnel from Holsfjord, west of the capital, and an underground treatment plant at Huseby. At present, a single water source and one treatment plant supply around 90% of the capital.
The E6 Project consists of:
– an 11 km tunnel from Stubberud to Huseby to be constructed with Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM);
– 7 km of Drill and Blast tunnel including the connection with the existing water treatment plan at Maridalsvannet;
– 6 caverns;
– 6 niches and 4 shafts hosting the intermediate water supply points.
The Design group SWECO Norge and Systra (tunnel designer) have been appointed for the design of the civil works for the main tunnel that will host the piping and the electromechanical components of the water distribution system, including a railway for the inspection and maintenance activities.
The excavation of the main tunnel will be carried out with a double shield TBM (nominal excavation diameter: 7.08m).
The tunnel will be supported be mean of an impervious precast concrete lining. The lining is composed of a 6+0 universal ring, 30 cm thick and with an internal diameter of 6,10 m. The segments are design with a “hybrid” reinforcement consisting of a welded steel rebars cage and steel fibers. A special ring equipped, at the extrados, with an inflatable “o-ring” system, has also been foreseen to be installed each ~200 m and before and after the tunnel niches openings to drastically reduce the waterflow within the annular gap which is filled with two-component backfilling grout.
The overburden of the tunnel varies between 40 m and 130 m while the water table is located at ground level. The TBM will excavate within three main formations: gneiss, Cambro-silurian sedimentary rocks and shale with lenses of limestone. The excavation will cross 6 faults including the main regional fault called “Ekeberg Fault”.
Location: Oslo (Norway)
Client:
City of Oslo
Kind of service provided: Water and wastewater
Amount of works: 870 Mln €
Project 02
Trento Railway Bypass
The Trento Railway Bypass, an integral part of the European Corridor TEN-T Scandinavian-Mediterranean, enhances broader European connectivity and strategically optimizes railway transport in Trento. Spanning 13.9 km, including 10.5 km of twin-tube tunnels (Trento tunnel), Trento Bypass is part of the Fortezza-Verona quadruplication project and, by diverting cargo trains away from Trento’s city centre, it mitigates congestion and noise pollution. Trento tunnel will be excavated not only in competent rock masses, but even in loose soil (gravel), near the South Portal and fault zones with elevated hydraulic pressure. To address the challenges given by heterogeneity, 4 Dual Mode single-shield TBMs (2 excavating from North Portal and 2 from South Portal) are deployed, allowing excavation in open mode for stable rocks or in closed mode (EPB), with a maximum face pressure of 5 bar, for loose soils or fault zones. In such fault zones, if necessary, rockmass improvement and drainage from the TBM are foreseen. The excavation diameter of the tunnels measures 9.68 m, with an overcutting capacity of 10 cm on the radius. The final lining consists of a 1.8 m long universal ring, with an inner diameter of 8.40 m composed of 7+0 segments. With a thickness of 45 cm, the segments are crafted from either reinforced concrete (RC) or steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC). Additionally, to preserve the presence of important water sources, the tunnels will be completely waterproofed.
The two tubes will be connected by 21 pedestrian crosspassages, placed every 500 m along with 5 technological cross-passages, to ensure safety and operational efficiency. Plants are also hosted in niches.
Location: Trento, Trentino (Italy)
Client:
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana S.p.A.
Kind of service provided: Railway
Amount of works: 985 Mln €
The Trento Railway Bypass represents a significant advancement in the European transportation infrastructure. Its implementation will allow to place underground the Trento’s historical railway line, fostering urban development along its corridor.
Project 03
Naples-Bari, Telese-San Lorenzo section (Lot 2) and San Lorenzo-Vitulano section (Lot 3)
Telese S.c.a.r.l. commissioned the design of Lots 2 and 3 of the II Functional Lot “Frasso Telesino-Vitulano” of the double-track railway line “Cancello-Benevento”, part of the Naples-Bari high speed/high capacity route. Lot 2 Telese-San Lorenzo is 11 km long of which 4.7 km of tunnels, Lot 3 San Lorenzo-Vitulano about 8 km of which 2.9 km of tunnels. The route extends for approximately 19 km with a speed of 180 km/h, expect some sections to 200 km/h and 160 km/h.
Lot 2 features 4 bored tunnels Tuoro S. Antuono, Cantone, Limata, S. Lorenzo, double-track tunnels two of which (Tuoro S. Antuono and S. Lorenzo) are longer than 1000 m and so with emergency exits.
Location:
Benevento, Campania (Italy)
Client:
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana S.p.A.
Kind of service provided: High Speed Railway
Amount of works: 471 Mln €
Lot 3 includes 3 bored tunnels Ponte, Reventa, Le Forche, double track tunnels one of which (Le Forche) is longer than 1000 m and so with emergency exits. All tunnels are excavated with conventional excavation. Tunnels are also equipped with niches, LFM niches each 250 m and technological niches each 2000 m. Tuoro S. Antuono crosses Varicoloured Clays (flysch featuring both clays and limestones). Cantone, Limata and S. Lorenzo cross alluvial deposits with predominant gravelly component. Ponte involves alluvial deposits while Reventa and Le Forche cross Varicoloured Clays.
The main critical points of the tunnel excavation are the nature of formations crossed (potentially swelling of Varicoloured Clays), low cover and chemically aggressive nature of the underground water.
The variability of the ground type along the tunnels leads to adoption of different supports:
– Type A sections (stable behaviour) with only primary linings and any consolidation at the face.
– Type B sections (short-term stable behaviour) with consolidation only at the face, provided where lithoid/pelitic components are quite similar.
– Type C sections (unstable behaviour) with FRG elements both at the face and at boundary where pelitic presence is preponderant or with jet grouting columns within sandy-gravelly deposits.
Autostrade per l’Italia Group, a leader in the Italian motorway industry, operates a vast concession network of 3,000 km, constituting about 50% of the Italian toll network. This expansive network spans across 15 regions, with 215 service areas, 4,200 bridges and viaducts, and over 420 km of tunnels.
The Group has diverse competencies, ranging from engineering to construction and from sustainable technologies to innovative mobility services, enabling us to effectively manage a complex network crucial for the mobility of people and goods within the country. Within the Group, Tecne is pivotal as it coordinates the engineering activities of the country’s strategic infrastructures and the network’s maintenance, upgrading and modernisation. Thus, Tecne is the engineering heart of the Group. Focusing on safe, sustainable, and stateof-the-art infrastructures, Tecne designs and builds works integrated into the lands where they originate and grow, ensuring safety for builders and users.
www.autostrade.it/it/tecne
A1 motorway widening and the new S.Lucia tunnel Project 01
The project, part of the Barberino di Mugello - Firenze Nord upgrade plan and the ASPI Investment Plan, has involved the construction of a new 17.5 km southbound carriageway, with four major works: two tunnels and two viaducts. Approximately 10 km are built underground with three 3.75-metre traffic lanes, plus an emergency lane, on the open sections.
The main feature of the new section of the A1 is the S. Lucia Tunnel – one of the longest three-lane tunnel built in Europe (approx. 8 km) and one of the five largest in the world in terms of overall size. Equipped with advanced high-tech systems for real-time infrastructure and road system control, it was excavated with the largest TBM ever used in the EU, worth EUR 54 million, minimising the impact on the territory and with sustainable management of excavated materials.
With a total investment of around EUR 1 billion, the entire project generates benefits in terms of travel experience, journey time, and environmental and economic benefits. It can be estimated that the construction of the whole infrastructure has generated around 3 billion in total direct impact on the economy.
Location:
Calenzano (FI) - Italy
Client:
Autostrade per l’Italia
Main Contractor:
Amplia Infrastructures
Kind of service provided: Executive design, construction management and technical assistance during construction
Construction period: 2016- March 2022
The improved resilience generated by the new route can save more than EUR 100 million per year in time losses. Analogously, the increase in capacity (from 4 lanes to 7 lanes) and the resulting traffic dilution leads to annual savings for the community of 1.5 million hours, worth more than EUR 32 million, reducing travelling time by 30% and atmospheric emissions by 30%. In particular, a potential reduction in CO2 emissions due to traffic jams and stop-and-go traffic can be estimated at up to 2,000 tonnes per year.
Project 02
TUNNEL RENEWAL STRATEGY
In 2020 ASPI launched an extraordinary Tunnel Assessment Plan on 365 km of tunnels developing along the Italian motorway network, mainly built in the 1960s and 1970s by systematic inspections and testing combined with reactive maintenance works.
In 2020-2023, Autostrade per l’Italia and its engineering company, TECNE, developed the Tunnel Renewal Strategy (Alessio et al., 2022), providing a new tunnel rehabilitation approach.
Detailed inspections and analyses were conducted to identify the leading causes of deterioration, including the development of defects and degradation of the tunnel’s
final lining, the effect of water and the natural degradation of the concrete and masonry linings.
The TRS approach - which aims at extending the tunnel linings’ life cycle by at least an additional 50 years –features the construction of a new inner shell to replace the structural function of the previous one and integrates an additional waterproofing layer, to insulate the inner lining from water penetration and collect mountain water.
The TRS adopted innovative technical and technological solutions (i.e. high-performance construction materials, automation and mechanisation of operations, maximising flexibility in terms of site organisation and logistics) to allow the rapid performance of works on the asset (construction site start-up, dismantling and total construction period) and ensure minimum impact on motorway traffic.
Several studies have been conducted to analyse the environmental impacts associated with tunnel lining renewal methods through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. LCA monitors environmental effects related to climate change, which may occur in two different design solutions involving various materials: traditional reinforced concrete and fibre-reinforced concrete (FRC). Attention to sustainability is also maintained in terms of site logistics, providing a quick work schedule that minimises traffic impacts and road congestion.
Location:
365 km motorways tunnels within Autostrade per l’Italia
Client:
Autostrade per l’Italia
Main Contractor:
Amplia Infrastructures
Kind of service provided: Conception of technical solutions, final and construction design, construction services up to the works completion.
Construction period: 2016- March 2022
Genoa Sub-port tunnel Project 03
With an investment of more than EUR 900 million, the solution developed envisions the construction of an underwater tunnel crossing of the Genoa Port basin, namely an urban road developing along two tunnels excavated under the sea with Hydroshield-type TBM machines.
The Sub-Port Tunnel runs for about 4.2 km with separate lanes, of which 3.4 km is developing underground. The road also connects to Via Madre di Dio through a junction and related ramps at the centre of the Old Port.
The design responds to the need to connect the Eastern and the Western areas (specifically between Viale Brigate Partigiane and San Benigno), thus providing a safer and more efficient solution than the existing ‘Sopraelevata’ (Overpass), indeed a significant opportunity to upgrade the city with a view to environmental and social sustainability issues.
The tunnel will relieve city traffic in the centre, speeding
Location: Genoa – Italy
Client:
Autostrade per l’Italia
Main Contractor:
Tecne Autostrade per l’Italia SpA
Kind of service provided:
Technical and Economic
Feasibility Design, Final Design for Design-Build Contracts, Consulting services and Supervisor during construction
Construction period: from 2024 – up to now
up travel and reducing noise and air pollution generated by transit vehicles.
The Sub-Port Tunnel will be supported by other essential works, such as the project for the San Benigno Junction, based on the master plan proposed by Studio RPBW. The design foresees the creation of a new park of about 6 hectares that will change the relationship between the city, the port and the sea (recalling its history and prefiguring its future); the expansion of the Parco della Foce towards the north; and the recovery of the historical walls of Corso Aurelio Saffi.
This design, although complex, gives the city an extraordinary opportunity in terms of cutting-edge engineering and strengthened road connections, but, most importantly, it allows for recovering and redeveloping the city where the tunnel emerges, becoming an integral part of the urban structure.
C O NTRACTOR
NTRACTOR
Cipa SpA was founded in 1986 and was born on the tradition of a family engineering culture more of one hundred years old, born with the activity of pushing pipes and push boxes. Over the years has expanded its activity with small and medium diameter tunnels ,subsequently, over time, has also developed the market for large diameters and consolidation. All of this thanks to the quality and to the know-how of the own workers, to the continuous evolution of the technologies and to the company’s equipment. A company therefore today characterized by a wealth of knowledge, equipment and above all human resources specialized in major underground works. Nowadays represents a point of reference in the market, for the experience gained in the field of tunnels, shafts and soil consolidation. The main activity of Cipa is the execution of underground works, metro stations, tunnels and shafts. As a complement to those activities, the company also carries out ground consolidation, piles and micropiles, jet grouting and recently ground freezing.
via Privata Rubinacci 10Sorrento (NA) 80067
info@cipaspa.it
www.cipaspa.it
Naples Underground Line 6 Project 01
The Line 6 Naples underground is a 5.5 km long infrastructure that connects the Fuorigrotta district with that of Piazza Municipio with 8 total stops, allowing interchange with Line 1, in that last station.
The freezing has been done by nitrogen only, even in the keeping phase, because the small shafts dimensions do not allow to install the brine system also.
Below the operations sequence for tunnels building:
– Drilling and installation of steel pipes to allow the installation of the freezing rods and thermometric chains;
– Drilling and installation of the drainage to visual check the freezing result;
– Drilling and installation of the manchette pipes for the compensation grouting;
– armering and casting of the concrete reinforced to avoid strains in the precast VSM blocks;
– Installation of steeel ribs in the metro main tunnel to avoid strains in the precast block;
– Installation of the freezing plant and freezing by nitrogen gas;
– Excavation and installation of precoating;
– Installation of waterproofing layer;
– Reinforcement concrete coating;
– Defreezing and compensation grouting if necessary;
– Completing of the concrete structures.
To avoid collapse of the hole, the drilling is executed with special system; drilling rods was disposal steel pipes that was the housing for two copper pipes: the internal to permitte the liquid nitrogen entrance and the exsternal to the exausted gas passage; The water, as drilling fluid, inserted inthrought the drilling rods by a pump; to avoid the exiting of water and sand in the drilling, it used a BOP system (Blow Out Preventer) consisting in two devices installed in stacks: the first one mechanical and the second pneumatic. The same operations has been done for the drainage pipe and manchette pipes. Before to start the freezing, we injected some manchette pipes on the top of freezing shell for adjusting subsidence effects on the the surface, very dangerous for the near buildings. We injected special cement slurry mix in a first phase (precompensation phase) to make a stiff surface and give to the ground a prestressing.
Location: Naples, Italy
Service provided: Torretta and VittoriaVentilation shaft connecting tunnels. Freezing by liquid nitrogen
Project 02
Railway tunnel line Relizane-Tiaret-Tissemsilt
As a sub-contractor of Groupe Etrhb Haddad, Cipa has contracted the construction of two tunnels RT 3010 and RT 3030, in the section that will allow the rail connection between the cities of Relizane and Tiaret, north-west of Algeria. Although the construction of a single railway line is initially planned, the tunnels are designed and sized so that, in the future, they can accommodate a second one. The line allows the achievement of a maximum speed of 160 km/h with the simultaneous passage of two trains and a speed of 100 km/h for goods trains. The typical section respects the criterion of guaranteeing a coverage of 5 m in reference to the keystone, the entrances of both tunnels are characterized by false tunnels of 15 m each. The full-section excavation of the 660 m natural tunnel was entirely carried out “traditionally” using excavators equipped with hammers; the first phase covering is achieved thanks to the use of IPE 180 double profile ribs, laid with variable spacing from 1 m to 1.2 m, electro-welded mesh and shotcrete. In a first phase, the walls were cast, suitably reinforced, followed by that of the caps. In the last phase of the definitive lining, the slab or inverted arch will be cast, present by design in most fields with truncated-conical geometry.
Location:
Algeria - Relizane
Client:
Groupe Etrhb Haddad
Tunnel RT 3010 Located on the outskirts of Zemmora, it has a total length of 1150 m; in this area the route approximately follows that of the ancient railway line already present in the city. The profile of the natural tunnel includes a route of 1114 m with a variable distance between the axes of the tracks: starting from the western entrance, for a stretch of 429 m, this distance remains constant, for the subsequent stretch of 685 m, up upon reaching the eastern entrance, the distance is variable in order to guarantee the functionality of the Zemmora station in the case of synchronous passage of trains in the tunnel. To allow this variation in distance in the second section, it was necessary to prepare a section enlarged by 80 cm compared to the current section. The first phase excavation and lining methods are the same as those applied to the RT3030 tunnel, the consolidation measures include fiberglass bars on the front in the case of the presence of faults and clay and marly formations.
Project 03
Metro station of Maison Blanche – L14
In the general organization of the area, the interconnection corridor with the station “Maison Blanche” of line 7 is inserted into the diaphragm of the line station 14 south, on a first underground level, in the north-west part of the area. The tunnel, shaped of H, consists of an access located on the sidewalk on the even-numbered side of Avenue d’Italie, from an underground crossing of Avenue d’Italie which bypasses the M7 from a corridor located on the odd numbers side, which allows connection with the L14 south station on the first underground level.
The construction of these temporary routes will take place in two stages to ensure this continuity of operation of the line 7.
At a first stage, only the even side corridor is created. At a second stage, the underground crossing and the odd side corridor will be made.
The works entrusted to CIPA included the excavation and first phase lining of access wells, divided into two operational phases which are were interspersed with the construction of the concrete works by LeonGrosse at South side accesses.
During the first phase, the excavation and first phase lining were carried out equal access on the South side. This sector corresponds to an area of approximately 230 m2 ,
Location:
Paris, France
Service provided:
Extension of line 14 to Orly airport Excavation works and temporary lining of the North and South accesses even side
for a overall length of approximately 30 meters and a width of between 7 and 9 m, a depth of approximately 7 m starting from the ground level for the larger wells dimensions, with a further partial excavation deepening of 1.5m for the construction of the EM trench. This phase was characterized by the construction of 6 armored wells, carried out one at a time. The central wells were initially built from south to north of the area and then return to the south side to carry out the last two shallower and oblique-section wells from which the ramp will later be built access to the station corridor.
The excavation was carried out in traditional steps with depths of 1.4m, with installation on all excavation levels with HEB 240 metal profiles on the 4 sides of the well and with shotcrete 15 cm on the north and south sides and temporary shoring with sheet piles on the east and west sides.
In second phase, the excavation and temporary lining were then carried out of the equal accesses on the North side, partly above the existing tunnel of line 7, up to reach a maximum depth of 15 m.
COLLINI LAVORI
COLLINI LAVORI S.p.A. was founded in 1932 by Geom. Leone Collini who, after starting his career in the building sector in the Trentino area, gained the extensive professional kwnoledge which the company to boost reconstruction during the years immediately following the Second World War in order to achieve rapid dimensional and operational growth.
During those years, between 1945 and 1960, the reference market was that of hydro-electric plants with the construction of all associated underground works and therefore, specifically, tunnels. The horizon of the Company widened subsequently to the great road, motorway, railway, hydraulic infrastructures and to civil and industrial works, increasingly more challenging in terms of processes and know-how. Currently the company is managed by the second and third generation which is continuing to develop the company, expanding the level of specialization, the application of new building technologies and attention to safety and quality procedures.
Sede Legale: Via Brennero n. 260 - 38121 Trento, Direzione: Piazza Velasca n. 4 - 20122 Milano
milano@collinilavori.it
www.collinilavori.it
State Road S.S. 42 “del Tonale e La Mendola” Project
The works are located on the S.S.42 “del Tonale e della Mendola”, in the Province of Brescia, for a total length of approximately 8,400 m.
The project involved the use of the C1 type section of the Ministerial Decree. 05.11.2001 “Functional and geometric standards for the construction of roads”, with a paved road platform width of 10.50 m (including lateral shoulders), both for the open-air and tunnel sections.
The main axis winds along the course of the Oglio river, with significant tunnel and viaduct sections to cope with the complex orography of the site and the strong anthropization of the territory.
The overall length of the five tunnels built is approximately 8,200 m and that of the viaducts is approximately 900 m. Among the main quantities of work, we note: 1,000,000 m3 of excavations, 400,000 m3 of concrete and 20,000,000 kg of steel.
Location:
Province of Brescia, Lombardia, Italy
Client:
ANAS S.p.A.
Service provided:
Executive Planning and and construction of the works for the modernisation of the road section between Darfo and Edolo,
Lots 4-5-6 – 1st phase (Val Camonica)
Amount of work: Euro 150.000.000
Project 02
As part of the excavation of the Capo di Ponte tunnel, in consideration of the proximity of a hydraulic canal owned by Edison, a particular piece of equipment mounted on an excavator, called Super Wedge, was used as a controlled vibration abatement method.
Summary of the main works:
– Sellero tunnel, section m2 150, ml 5.047
– Capo di Ponte tunnel section m2 150, ml 1.866
– Berzo tunnel, section m2 90, ml 540
– Demo tunnel, section m2 90, ml 350
– Finestra tunnel, section m2 90, ml 377
– Capo di Ponte viaduct, 19 spans, ml 679
– Berzo Demo viaduct, 8 spans, ml 224
– Saletto bridge, one span, ml 63
– Forno Allione bridge, one span, ml 54
– Underpass railway line Brescia – Edolo, one span, ml 24
Works for the construction of the 2nd section of the 3rd lot of the Grande Viabilità di Trieste (Padriciano – Cattinara section)
The new road route called 2nd section of the 3rd lot of the Grande Viabilità di Trieste connects, with an overall length of 5.5 km, the section of the Grande Viabilità Trieste already built by the Municipality of Trieste in the Cattinara area to the motorway section built by ANAS in Padriciano in correspondence with the Research Area. This section therefore represents the element of completion of the entire Great Roadway of the Province of Trieste. The main works that characterize the new artery are:
– “Carso” tunnels, made up of 2 tubes approximately 2,850 m long with 2 lanes plus the platform for emergency parking, connect the area after the Research Area to the Castelliere area;
– “Cattinara” tunnels, made up of 2 tubes approximately 290 m long with 2 lanes plus the platform for emergency parking, pass under the town of Cattinara;
– “Cattinara” viaduct, approximately 330 m long, made of CORTEN type steel characterized by 4 long spans (up to approximately 90 m), which connects the
Location: Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy.
Client: Comune di Trieste.
Amount of work: Euro 175.000.000
Cattinara tunnel with the valley at the foot of the Castelliere hill and subsequently, after a stretch in support, with the “Carso” tunnels.
– Connections with minor roads are guaranteed through the following 3 junctions:
– Cattinara junction: consisting of two connection ramps between the G.V.T. and the S.S. 202 (in the area of the roadman’s house), one towards Trieste, the other towards the plateau;
– Castelliere junction: consisting of two connection ramps with the “Carso” tunnels towards Venice and the other towards Trieste, as well as the new roadway of via Marchesetti, the connection to and from Longera and the two exit and junction ramps to and from the S.S. 202 (downstream of the “H” junction);
– Padriciano junction: consisting of an access ramp to the G.V.T. in the direction of Trieste and from an exit from the G.V.T. towards the Research Area and Padriciano. This includes the modernization of the new municipal road connecting to the town of Padriciano and the creation of connections with the Research Area.
creZZa S.r.l.
Crezza S.r.l. founded in 1992 as a prefabrication and construction company with the aim of providing specific solutions for infrastructures by offering a wide variety of products and specifically:
– Certified road and construction site safety barriers
– Segments for tunnel lining
– Segments for artificial tunnels
– Escape routes for suspended, lateral and underground tunnels and many other concrete precasts designed to meet specific needs.
In 2002 Crezza together with other operators in the sector gave birth to ABESCA – “Associazione Barriere Elementi Sicurezza Cemento Armato” - and in 2005 to “ABESCA EUROPE S.r.l.” with the mission of investing in the research and development of reinforced concrete road safety barriers. For the passive protection of road users. Thanks to the “know-how” acquired over time, Crezza is also able to provide specific tailor-made solutions according to needs, providing 360-degree support starting from design up to implementation.
Via Barona, 4 – 23020 Gordona (SO)
0343 43144
info@crezza.com
www.crezza.com
COLLE MARINO TUNNEL (NORTH SECTION)
MOTORWAY A14: CATTOLICA – PESCARA Project 01
The work involves the renovation of the “Colle Marino” motorway tunnel, constructed in the 1970s.
The tunnel extends for a length of approximately 950 m of which 800 m is natural excavation and hosts a twolane roadway 9.60 m wide.
The interventions consisted in the reconstruction of the inverted arch and the definitive cladding, in addition to the additional ones.
Specifically, in 2023 Crezza obtained the assignment for the prefabrication and installation of the cladding made up of prefabricated reticular segments and the creation and installation of the metal armoring at the entrances.
After the design of the products carried out by the Crezza technicians, we moved on to prefabrication which consisted in the production of n. 380 lining rings with a width of 2.40 m, each of which is composed of n. 2 pier elements and n. 1 cap element for a total of 1,140 prefabricated elements produced.
After the preparatory works of milling, waterproofing and construction of the walls carried out by the company, Crezza was able to intervene by installing the products directly with its own personnel and specific equipment, guaranteeing speed of installation despite the very low milling thicknesses of around 32 cm, only 5 -7 cm more than the total thickness of the prefab.
The works also had the complication of the installation taking place in camps of 12 meters each, which were lined in an alternate manner until the tunnel was completed.
At the entrances, where the stresses transmitted are greater, the project involved the installation of metal armouring.
Collaborating with its partners, Crezza provided the metal carpentry in the factory in order to create a preassembled structure to be installed on site.
The structure composed of calendered metal beams, sheets and fixings was galvanized after processing to ensure the required durability.
Finally, installation was carried out again with Crezza personnel and specific equipment.
Location:
A14 motorway - Pineto Atri (TE)
Client:
Autostrade per L’Italia
Contracting Company
Amplia infrastrustures S.p.a.
Service Provided:
Supply and installation of prefabricated segments and metal armoring: Crezza S.r.l.
Period work: 2023-2024
IMPRESA PIZZAROTTI
Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A., founded in 1910 as a sole proprietorship by Gino Pizzarotti, has followed a continuous evolution thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit that has distinguished the Pizzarotti family for four generations. The search for innovation and technological excellence have allowed to become one of the main global players in the infrastructure and construction sector. Over the years the company has established itself also on the foreign market, representing a point of reference for know-how and implementation capacity. The construction of important public works in the context of transport infrastructures represents one of the prevalent areas, both in Italy and abroad. Innovation and advanced technological research are the growth drivers of Pizzarotti, specialized in the design and construction of tunnels, roads and motorways, railway lines, buildings, complex civil constructions, airports, bridges, hydraulic works and dams. Great skills have been developed in the construction of high-speed railway infrastructure works, strategic infrastructure investments for PNNR.
Via Anna Maria Adorni, 1 43121 Parma - Italia
www.pizzarotti.it
Florence Underground High-speed railway and New Station Project 01
Impresa Pizzarotti, 51% leader of the Florentia consortium, is working on the realization of the rail link High Speed/ High Capacity of Florence, which provides for the railway underpass of the city and the new HS station of Florence Belfiore. The work, which is part of the broader within the larger project of the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor, is an iconic project, in terms of safety and sustainability, which aims to promote the development, competitiveness and mobility of users, goods and services in Florence and the entire country. The project aims to improve the mobility of Florence and the surrounding areas, safeguarding urban and environmental balances and providing it with new sustainable infrastructure, mainly built underground. In fact, the urban section of the new HS rail line will run 8km underground, with single and double-track tunnels between the existing stations of Firenze Rifredi and Firenze Campo di Marte. The future HS station Firenze Belfiore, designed by Foster & Partners and Ove Arup & Partners, will have dimensions of about 450 meters long and 50 meters wide, with an area of about 45,000 square meters. Positioned up to 25 meters below road level, the station will feature a glazed roof supported by a steel structure that will rise for about 18 meters and will be divided into four levels.
The project, which represents a completely new model for Italy, incorporates innovative technological solutions to reduce environmental impact, using renewable materials and reducing energy consumption and polluting emissions. In the development of the executive project, moreover, great attention was paid to the pre-existing structures and buildings, included in the subsidence basin induced by the excavation, and the analysis of the impacts on the pre-existing structures involved about 230 buildings. In addition to focusing on urban mobility and safeguarding the urban environment of Florence, the project has the important objective of involving and informing the community in a transparent way about the implementation of the new infrastructure. These, which are essential to alleviate surface traffic and significantly reduce environmental impact, are designed with a long-term vision that also considers the value and responsible management of the subsoil as a valuable natural resource.
Location:
Florence (Italy)
Client:
Railway Infrastructure
Owner: RFI
Amount of works: 1B€
ITINERA
ITINERA has been active in large-scale infrastructure projects and civil construction for more than 80 years, in Italy and around the world. Established in 1938, the Company is part of ASTM Group, the second toll road operator in the world with approximately 6,200 km of roads under concession. Today, in terms of size, backlog and revenue, ITINERA is an Italian and global leader for large-scale infrastructural works. With a backlog worth € 7 billion, 48% of which overseas, ITINERA has been awarded with contracts all around the world: Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, the US, in road and railway infrastructure, tunnels, ports, airports, hospitals and motorway maintenance. Consolidates Revenues for ITINERA in the 2023 year have been equal to 1.76 bln €, with more than 4.107 employees. ITINERA also boasts many years of experience in the field of underground works, having built more than more than 100 km of tunnels and 1,000 km of road, motorway.
Via Balustra, 15 - 15057 TORTONA (AL)
itinera@itinera-spa.it
www.itinera-spa.it/en/
Stockholm Metro Lines Project 01
Stockholm Metro Lines - Hammarby Kanal and Arenastaden – Södra Hagalund
Construction of a section of the underground called the “Hammarby Kanal”, belongs to the Blue Line Metro of Stockholm. The contract involves the construction of the Hammarby Kanal station, located at a depth of 40 m, and three sections of tunnel for a total length of approximately 1,100 m. Furthermore 2 inclined shafts for escalators, shafts for ventilation and civil works for 2 entrances and the platform room. The tunnelling is performed with traditional drill and blast (rock excavation 240,000 cm) with umbrella pre-injection and subsequent bolting and shotcreeting. The project is performed under challenging conditions as the tunnels passes through 2 fault lines and several zones with bad rock conditions and significant inleakage of water. This has called for special precautions and postinjection. The contract value is 87 mio €.
Location:
Stockholm, Sweden
Client:
Stockholm Region
Amount of works: 217 million €
The section of the underground called “Arenastaden –Södra Hagalund” which connects southwards to the Green Line of the Stockholm underground network. The work, mainly underground in the municipality of Solna, consists of the construction of two stations (Arenastaden and Södra Hagalund), and a connecting main tunnel for 2 tracks plus service tunnel about 2.5 km long, located at a depth 40 m. Furthermore 4 inclined shafts for escalators, shafts for ventilation and civil works for 4 entrances and the platform rooms are included in the contract. The tunnelling, such as for the Hammarby Kanal is performed with traditional drill and blast (rock excavation 380.000 cm), with umbrella pre-injection and subsequent bolting and shotcreeting. The challenge in this project consists of varying rock conditions and the fact that a large part of the tunnel is situated very close to an existing railway facility. The contract value is 130 mio €.
Project 02
Base tunnel Turin – Lyon, CO8, Lot 3
Base tunnel Turin – Lyon, CO8, Lot 3: Saint-JulienMontdenis and Saint-Martin-la-Porte
The Turin-Lyon line is a essential section of the Mediterranean Corridor, which allows trains to travel through the Alps, thus significantly facilitating the transition from road to rail transportation, with remarkable environmental and economic savings. Tunnel Euralpin Lyon-Turin (TELT) is the public promoter in charge of building and managing the cross-border section of the Lyon-Turin railway line. A company incorporated under French law, iowned 50% by Italy and France. The main work is the Mont Cenis base tunnel, 57.5 km long, which will allow crossing the Alps, reducing time and cost required to move passengers and freight. The joint venture formed by IMPLENIA, ITINERA, NGE and Rizzani de Eccher has been awarded Lot 3, which consists in the construction of the tunnel Villard tunnel – Clement gates of 3 km between Saint-Julien-MontDenis and Saint-Martin-la-Porte. The lot, worth 228 million euro, will take about 63 months to complete and 300 workers on site. Works are also planned on the Villard-Clément platform, between the artificial tunnel to the west and the natural entrance of the tunnel to the east. The excavation will be carried out with traditional method: 2,840 m of base
Location:
Saint-Julien-Montdenis and Saint-Martin-la-Porte, France
Client:
Tunnel Euralpin Lyon Turin S.a.s.
Amount of works: 228 million €
tunnel (for 2 tubes), 2,660 m of which with drill and blast method, 8.40 m internal diameter, 1,018 m of umbrella vault, 1,078 of hangers, 11 safety cross passages of two types, 6 niches (safety refuge), 145,000 m3 of concrete for coating, 510,000 m3 of excavated material, 60,000 m3 of shotcrete and tunnel covering. The external work on the cut-and-cover tunnel, consist of 56 m cut and cover, 82 m of bi-tube work, embankments, folding and cleaning of the site. The excavation of the base tunnel started in December 2022 in Saint-Julien-Montdenis and SaintMartin-la-Porte is currently underway. On this platform was also realized the acoustic hangar, the conveyor belt and all the equipment necessary for the proper operation of the construction site: offices, batching plants, access paths.
SELI OVERSEAS
SELI OVERSEAS is the Webuild group company specialised in the construction of underground works and in mechanised TBM tunnel excavation for the construction of undergrounds, railways, roads, aqueducts, sewers and hydroelectric plants.
After over 70 years in business and having excavated more than 800 km of tunnels, the company has unparalleled experience and boasts technicians and specialists able to achieve the best output levels and overcome the most critical geological conditions. Experience, productivity and innovation are the keys to success for SELI Overseas in winning and executing TBM tunnel excavation projects.
Via Silvio d’Amico 53, 00145 Roma
info@selioverseas.com
High Speed Railway Messina-Catania,
Sciglio
& Forza D’Agro’ Project 01
Sciglio tunnel: TBM excavation, lining, backfilling, invert concreting, for approximately 18,0 km (twin tunnels of approximately 9,0 km each) with one Dual Mode EPB TBM
Forza D’Agrò - Letojanni tunnel: TBM excavation, lining and backfilling, invert concreting, for approximately 12,0 km (twin tunnels of approximately 6,0 km each) with one EPB TBM.
They are the longest and most critical tunnels to be excavated for the new Messina-Catania railway line.
The two TBMs that SELI Overseas will use in these projects are the first of a new generation of machines that introduce many innovations developed to increase the productivity and at same time be able overcome the several geological criticalities foreseen along the route. Both machines are Green TBM, the very first of this type used in the world, capable to reduce the power consumption by approximately 20% in respect of standard TBMs of same diameter.
Location:
Letojanni (Messina)
Client:
Consorzio Messina-Catania (Webuild-Pizzarotti)
Kind of service provided: Railway Tunnels
Start Work: September 2023
Amount of works: 142.300.006,78 Euro
Among the special features introduced with these machines the ones that are worthy of mention are:
– Continuous mining for the installation of the segments simultaneously with the advancement of the TBM
– EKO Cruise, which optimizes the operating parameters of the TBM to reduce power consumption while maintaining the set advancement speed
– New generation IE4 and permanent magnet electric motors with higher power efficiency
Furthermore, the specific TBM that will be used in the Sciglio tunnel is of the Dual Mode type, capable of operating both in open mode and in EPB mode.
This because along the tunnel with alternate formations with very different geomechanical characteristics, ranging from hard and abrasive rocks to lose alluvial soils, which require the use of “flexible” machines capable to adapt the operating mode and parameters to the actual conditions at the face.
SELI Overseas has the task of operating these advanced machines and completing the total 30 km of tunnels to be excavated in record short time.
Project
02
Bergen Point WWTP Outfall Replacement
TBM excavation, lining and backfilling for approximate 14,200 ft with a Mixshield TBM. No.2 Shaft construction:
– Barrier Island shaft 30ft Inner Diameter 94ft deep
Replacement of pipe and valves at the Bergen Point WWTP; new site piping and valving from the receiving shaft to the new connection on the existing outfall at Barrier Island.
The Bergen Point outfall sewer tunnel is 4.3 km; starting from Long Island, underpasses the ocean to reach Barrier Island.
The tunnel route crosses sandy-clayey soils, with percentages of clay and sand prevailing over each other depending on the different sections to be excavated.
The Slurry TBM used, with a diameter of 4 m, is one of the first machines capable of working both as a pipe jacking machine, a technology used to start the excavation from
Location:
Suffolk County USA
Client: Suffolk County
Kind of service provided: Sewage Tunnel
Work period: 2018-2021
Amount of works:
USD 187.780.000
the launching shaft at Bergen Point, as well as a proper TBM installing a precast segment lining, as it was the case for the remaining part of the tunnel up to Barrier Island.
The TBM, which was operated at a pressure of 3 bar without substantial problems beside the premature failure of the tail shield brush grease seals, which were replaced soon with a new type having a different and better design which allowed the replacement intervals to be doubled. In general, however, the greatest criticality was the management of the Slurry Treatment Plant (STP).
The high percentage of clay in several tunnel sections has in fact put the STP, as originally configured, into crisis, requiring the replacement of the centrifuges with more suitable types and the use of chemicals to increase the effectiveness of the separation of the fines and very fine. The advancement speed of the TBM essentially depended on the sludge treatment plant, its configuration and management.
Finally, it shall be mentioned the difficulties and delays suffered by operating the TBM precisely in the peak period of the COVID epidemic, particularly critical given the small size of the tunnel and the consequent difficulty of maintaining the safety distances among workers.
Lonato Tunnel Project 03
TBM excavation, lining and backfilling for approximate 9,50 km with a EPB TBM. Excavation of two twin tunnels of approx.4,75 km.
Excavation and lining of no. 11 tunnel’s link cross passages and no.34 technological niches.
Tunnel invert’s concrete filling after completion of excavation.
The Lonato double-tube tunnel constitutes the critical work for the construction of the new Brescia - Verona - Padova high-speed/high-capacity railway line which is part of the Milan - Venice high-speed/high-speed axis.
This line is of strategic importance at both a national and European level, in fact, it is one of the main sections of the Mediterranean Core Corridor which will connect the ports of the south of the Iberian Peninsula to Eastern Europe, passing through Southern France, Northern Italy and Slovenia.
Location: Lonato (Brescia, Italy)
Client: CEPAV Due
Kind of service provided: Highspeed Railway twin Tunnels
Start work: August 2020
Amount of works: 179.860.782,00 Euro
The Lonato double-tube tunnel has a length of 4.8 km and crosses through alluvial formations rich in gravel, sand and cobbles, with local concentration of large boulders dispersed in a sandy-gravel matrix, with very low fines.
The presence of suspended aquifers under pressure required the use of a special EPB TBM with double screw to be able to work up to 6 bar in these difficult formations.
The excavation of the tunnel achieved record productions but at the same time required addressing problems linked to the great wear that working at high pressure in the excavation chamber in the presence of arid and abrasive soils entailed.
Of fundamental importance for the success of the excavation was the study of the cutting tools arrangement of the cutterhead, on which both rippers and cutters were installed, these last on a slightly lower cutting profile.
Several rippers anti-wear protection tools were also welded on the peripheral part of the cutterhead.
The critical characteristics of the soil and the high groundwater pressures have posed problems for the design and construction of the by-pass tunnels connecting the two railway tubes.
To overcome the problem, it was necessary to redesign the by passes and their construction phases, to then accelerate their execution, given the urgency of completing the work and putting the new line into service.
vianini lavori
In the 1920s, Vianini Lavori began as a General Construction Company, playing a vital role in private and public sectors across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. In 1984, Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, current President of the Gruppo Caltagirone, acquired the Gruppo Vianini, already active in major constructions and concrete structures worldwide.
The society, completed significant projects, including 6 airports, 12 dams, 250 km of tunnels, 130 bridges and viaducts, 2000 km of roads, 3000 km of acqueducts and irrigation pipes, 380 km of railways and subway, 250 million cubic meters of dredging, 10 km of quays. In the last 20 years, Vianini Lavori focused on the Italian market, undertaking projects, in particular in the tunnels sector. During 2023, Vianini Lavori secured new contracts, including 3 with Anas for tunnel works in Tai di Cadore, Valle di Cadore, and Isernia Castel di Sangro. In addition, Vianini Lavori owns a 45% share of the Consorzio Eteria.
info@vianinilavori.it
Via Barberini ,68 00187 – Roma www.vianinilavori.it
VIANINI LAVORI
Project 01
SS51 “DI ALEMAGNA”
The project is part of the Extraordinary Plan for Accessibility to Cortina 2021, planned by ANAS S.p.A on the freeway SS51 of Alemagna, that points at addressing critical issues related to safety and functionality. The project, awarded to Vianini Lavori in April 2023, comprises the construction of two road tunnels, which allow to bypass the towns of Tai di Cadore and Valle di Cadore (Pieve di Cadore Municipality).
The contract also includes works that aim at improving the proper use of the road such as the detour of the existing bike path of relevant tourist interest and the hydrogeological arrangement of existing river creeks. The infrastructure modifies the route of the existing freeway between km.72+650 and 74+400 and is connected to the SS51 with at-grade roundabouts.
The Valle di Cadore tunnel is 600 m long, while the Tai tunnel is 900 m. Both tunnels accommodate a two-lane road and have a curve radius of ≈ 6 m. The tunnel portals foresee large-diameter piles (800mm and 1200mm), active anchors, and, where necessary, soil nailing to support the slopes.
Location: Pieve di Cadore - BellunoVeneto
Client: Anas S.p.A.
Kind of service provided:
Construction & Environmental Monitoring
Construction period: 2023-2026
Amount of Works: 110 M€
The tunnels cross moraine deposits of glacial and/or fluvioglacial origin and are excavated with traditional fullface method and preventive soil consolidation at the tunnel face and profile by means of steel pipes and fiberglass bars. Primary lining, consisting in steel ribs and shotcrete, is used to stabilize the tunnel surface, while permanent lining in reinforced concrete will carry the long-term loads. The length of the excavation steps varies from 9 to 12 m. During construction, environmental monitoring of air, water, flora, and fauna in the surrounding area is carried out by means of monitoring stations.
The contract also includes the installation of lighting, ventilation and firefighting serving the tunnel. A data network will be set up to be connected to the Smart Road network, an enabling technology for the development of “Smart Mobility” and preparatory to future scenarios of autonomous driving vehicles.
NEW METRO LINE OF CATANZARO Project 02
In 2015, the Consortium Vianini Lavori S.p.A., Ares Costruzioni Generali S.p.A, CO.GE.FOR. S.R.L. was awarded the Design and Build Contract of the new metro line in Catanzaro. The project consists in the adaption of the existing railway line to metro line and specifically, the doubling of the current line between the Catanzaro Sala and Catanzaro Lido stations (Line A-B), and the new line connecting the Germaneto RFI station to the Dulcino stop (Line C) for an overall length of 21,6 km.
In addition to the main tunnel, that runs for approximately 1054 m, the project includes cut-and-cover tunnels, bridges, viaducts, underpasses, flyovers, retaining structures, hydraulic structures, as well as the adaptation of the existing roads located in the surrounding areas. The main tunnel consists in a single bidirectional tube (single track) with a cross section of 45 m2 and variable coverage between 5 and 80 m, located in a hilly area characterized by grey-blue silty clays of Pliocene origin with stretches of over-consolidated clays. The tunnel is excavated with the traditional full-face method with the implementation of 4 different typical cross-sections (A, B, C and C1) across the alignment defined according to the stratigraphy and the geomechanical conditions.
Location: Catanzaro-Calabria-Italy
Client:
Regione Calabria
Kind of service provided: Design & Build Contract
Design period: 2015-2017
Amount of Works: 125’000 k€
Depending on the cross-section, implementation of steel ribs, shotcrete lining reinforced with steel fibers, steel longitudinal pipes around the tunnel profile and/or fiberglass longitudinal tubes for tunnel face reinforcement are installed.
During the excavation, a Monitoring Plan was implemented, aimed at controlling the surrounding conditions and the structural lining of the tunnel in relation to the geomechanical conditions found along the alignment and defining the information necessary for adequately managing the excavation and identifying the typical sections to be implemented.
TRIGNO TUNNEL AND LE PIANE TUNNEL
(LOTTO 0 S.S.17 ISERNIA-CASTEL DI SANGRO) Project 03
In 2023, Vianini Lavori S.p.A. was awarded the Design and Build Contract of Lot 0, connecting S.S.17 from the Pesche junction to Lot 1 (already completed) of the S.S.V. Isernia-Castel di Sangro freeway. The project consists of a 5.5 km route, including two tunnels with a total length of 875m. The road section is of type C1, featuring a single lane in each direction and an overall road platform width of 10.5m.
The Trigno Tunnel is situated in the southern part of the lot, with a total length of 414m, while the Le Piane Tunnel, in the northern part, is 490m long. At the entrances of both tunnels, two cut and cover tunnels are foreseen. The internal profile is polycentric, with an internal radius in the crown of 6.45m and an internal radius of the inverted arch of 12.68m.
Geologically, the tunnel primarily intersects the marly clays of the Macchiagodena formation, in contact with
Location: Molise - Italy
Client: Anas S.p.A.
Kind of service provided: Design & Build Contract
Construction period: 2023-2024
Amount of Works: 134 M€
its most altered contact zone in the case of the Trigno Tunnel. Instead, for the Le Piane Tunnel, predictable zones of tectonized and altered ground are expected at the fault zones corresponding to the altered limestones of the Monaci formation. Considering this geological context and the limited cover (maximum 26m), the project foresees stabilization and consolidation both around the tunnel profile and the face. Adopting the traditional fullface excavation method (using a hammer or point-attack cutter), the tunnel is excavated with excavation fields of 10m before the installation of the lining. Ongoing site monitoring ensures the correct application of defined typical sections, that optimize the type and amount of consolidations and the steel rib spacing, based on the deformative response of the face and the stress state in the linings. The monitoring will also point out the need or possibility of applying different typical sections than those initially planned.
SUPPLIERS
AB TUNNELLING
AB TUNNELLING is an italian company engaged in R&D, design, production, assistance and marketing of products and equipment for the construction of tunnels dug by TBM. The company provides highly customized products with the sole objective of maximizing productivity. AB TUNNELLING’s flagship, the RingX® cutting ring, has been designed and manufactured with one purpose: to achieve extremely high performance. The uniqueness of RingX® is certified by both Italian and European patents. The tail skin BrushX, coupled with tail sealant, forms a sealing system that ensures perfect confinement of two-component annular gap filling mixture.
Operating even in the field of segment precasting, the company provides segment moulds and handling equipment as well as accessories, gaskets, fibres, release agents, robotic welding systems.
AB TUNNELLING can also count on a range of more than 15 resins of various chemical nature as used to stabilize and consolidate the fault zones along tunnelling path.
+39 3347873129
Piazza Borromeo 12 20123 Milano bertoli@abtunnelling.it
www.abtunnelling.it
THIRD GIOVI PASS Project 01
Third Giovi Pass is the High Speed and High Capacity railway project along the connection between Milan and Genoa: it is one of the widest and highest priority projects in Europe connecting Genoa port to Rotterdam port as the most important link between the Mediterranean Sea and Northern Europe and becomig part of the Rhine-Alps Corridor.
The studies carried out have shown that about 30% of the long tunnel of Valico develops within a particulary complex area from a geological point of view. In fact the route crosses extremely heterogeneous geological areas connecting Alps on the west with the Northern Appennines to the east.
Between km 20+100 and km 23+450 the thrust of the TBM broke the excavation front into large boulders that prevented the continuation of the excavation of the tunnel also due to the short life of the cutters in operation, which made as necessary to replace them just after a few hours of work.
AB TUNNELLING developed and patented an innovative cutting ring (RingX®) starting from the identification not only of the most suitable raw material but also of the most performing heat treatments to get the strength and
Location: Italy
Client: COCIV
Construction period: 2020-2022
Contractor: SELI OVERSEAS SpA
hardness necessary for excavation in this particular ground conformation.
RingX® has enabled our customer to restart the excavation drastically reducing machine downtime (due to the replacement of worn cutting rings) and ensuring a better efficiency and preserving the safety of operators, no longer forced to extremely difficult conditions for maintenance and cutters replacement.
Customer satisfaction and AB TUNNELLING constant commitment saw us as protagonists in the continuation of this challanging project not only in Italy but throughout Europe and made us proud to be part of this ambitious project.
Project 02
Pianacce and Colonnella Tunnels
Pianacce and Colonnella tunnels are part of the project to renovate an existing pipeline as a strategic infrastructure to support Italy’s security and energy transition.
AB TUNNELLING is involved with great satisfaction together with its technological partners in the supply and technical assistance of equipment, accessories and gaskets for the precast segmental lining of Pianacce and Colonnella tunnels.
The lining consists of 1110 precast rings with an outer diameter of 2800 mm, a thickness of 175 mm and a length
Location: Italy
Client: SNAM SpA
Construction period: 2024/2026
Contractor: MICROLOG Srl
of 900 mm.
Each ring is made up of 6 segments. The workload program provides for the precasting of 12 rings a day.
The stationary segment moulds have been designed and produced by KOREA MOULD: the Korean company is specialized exclusively in this kind of moulds and segments handling equipment in the precasting plant, boasting more than 120 references worldwide.
KOREA MOULD’s in-house engineering department has also designed and built the vacuum lifting&tilting equipment, integrating two functions in a single rig and optimizing the work process into the precasting plant.
Accessories and gaskets are ‘made in Italy’ and supplied by FIP MEC: the anchored gasket has been designed and produced ex-novo to meet the requirements of this specific project, while the insertion of accessories into the segment moulds (embedded items as sockets for connecting and centering systems) has been implemented to facilitate the operations of the workers into the precasting plant with the aim of guaranteeing speed of assembly, precision and safety.
AB TUNNELLING strives for cutting-edge solutions and contributes to the continuous development of accessories and gaskets in terms of design, testing and application, bringing its experience gained over the years at construction sites, challanging projects and even participating in international working groups.
CP TECHNOLOGY
CP Technology is a company specialized in design and manufacture of high technological plants for segments and sleepers production. The Robofactory plant represents the most advanced technology on the market to produce concrete segments has been selected from the main construction companies worldwide to reach high performance with a reduction of carbon footprint. The factory employs high-efficiency robotic technology in which innovation, efficiency, circular economy solutions are synergistically integrated to reduce the impact on the environment.
Via Como 3/5 20834 Nova Milanese (MB)
0362 285431
info@cptechnology.it
www.cptechnology.it
Robotic Carousel in Belpasso Project 01
The production plant in Belpasso is the most innovative TBM segments precast factory in Italy, and among the most technologically advanced worldwide.
The plant will serve the new railway line Messina-Catania, producing segment for many tunnels composing the project having three different rings geometry. When performing their tasks, workers are sided by robots and new technologies, which take care of those activities that are most repetitive and fatigue intensive. They allow to ensure a higher degree of safety and a more ergonomic working environment. The plant is logistically integrated, with the aim of optimizing the handling of goods and the use of vehicles.
Concrete is taken to the moulds by flying buckets travelling from the batching plant. After the pouring, moulds are moved inside the curing chamber, where the segment reaches the strength needed for demoulding thanks to an environment of controlled temperature and humidity. After curing, within the robotic station, the mould is opened, and the segment is then lifted and tilted by a special machine which transfer the manufact to the quality check area and to the prestorage area.
Segment production is assisted by an advanced software for production management and quality control, which allows to record and to track to every segment all information about the production cycle and raw materials used.
The automation implemented in the factory enables to considerably decrease the production cycle time, in addition to optimizing the consumption of water and electricity, thus reducing the environmental impact of the plant.
The one in Belpasso is the first of a series of Robotic Plants being delivered in Italy in the next couple of years, driving the country at the forefront of the TMB segment production worldwide.
Client: Consorzio Messina Catania Lotto Nord (WebuildPizzarotti)
Service provided: Robotic Precast Plant for the railway project MessinaCatania
Amount of work: 8mln ca.
FAMA
FAMA has been operating in the tunnel industry for more than 30 years. Initially established as a subcontractor, it has contributed with its own products for more than 11 years to the construction of 101 tunnels for a total of 1,160 km. It offers products for precast segmental lining of tunnels excavated with the mechanized system. FAMA conceives, designs and manufactures sealing gaskets, connection systems and a wide range of accessories. It also designs manual and automated precast plants. It has its own laboratory for testing raw materials and products following the EAD specifications to obtain the ETA certification. FAMA is ISO 9001 certified and has obtained the Avis d’Experts issued by AFTES that certifies the high performance of its gaskets. It is now committed to the validation of an Avis technique CETU for its anchored compressible gaskets. Finally, FAMA holds the EPD validation certificate that proves the compliance of its products with the minimum environmental criteria.
via della Fossa 6 - 33080 Zoppola (Pn)
39 0434 979792
info@famaspa.it
www.famaspa.it
Snowy IPS, Australia Project 01
The Snowy 2.0 Project (Australia) is a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant, used as hydropower storage systems to ensure electricity grid stability in times of increased supply and to cover energy requirements at times of peak demand. The project will provide renewable energy and support the nation’s transition to a low-carbon future.
Future Generation Joint Venture (FGJV), composed by Webuild, Clough and Lane Construction, is realizing Snowy 2.0 project commissioned by Snowy Hydro Limited (SHL). This project includes a tunnel with a slope of 25°, an inclined pressure shaft, 1,6 km long and 10 m diameter. FAMA has supported this work with the supply of elements for the sealing and connection of the tunnel. As part of the project, new elements with innovative and particularly challenging technologies were identified by the Webuild SpA Group and designed and developed in collaboration with FAMA.
An important innovation consists in the use of a double gasket with cross-gasket incorporated into the concrete, as the anchored gaskets, to preserve the metal parts of the connection system between segments from contact with water and therefore from corrosion that would compromise its durability. There are also used methods of subdivision of the space created between the two gaskets to block the propagation of any water infiltration which could otherwise extend over several rings, thus making it very difficult to identify the source of the infiltration.
Another innovation is represented by the crack inducer, a device used to create voids in the concrete of the segments (weakened areas in the segment section) that define precisely the position where the crack could possibly take place.
Maccaferri
Founded in 1879, Officine Maccaferri is a global leader in civil and environmental engineering, with more than 20 factories in 4 continents, around 3,000 employees and a commercial presence in over 130 countries. Officine Maccaferri offers advanced engineering solutions for the reduction of hydrogeological risk, the development and safety of transport infrastructures and the urban environment.
The motto, ‘Engineering a Better Solution,’ drives Officine Maccaferri’s approach to not merely supply products; rather, it collaborates in partnership with its clients, offering technical expertise to deliver smart, digitally optimized, and in harmony with nature engineered solutions. A commitment to outstanding safety, quality, and sustainability is at the core of Officine Maccaferri’s values, with the aim of creating value for all stakeholders as well as communities.
+39 051 6436283 Via Del Faggiolo 1/1240132 BOLOGNA (BO)
maccaferritunneling@ maccaferri.com
www.maccaferri.com
The Automatic Steel Arch Project 01
The increase in safety levels is one of the most important considerations for innovation and research and it is one of the most common demands from the underground construction market. Tunnel excavation is a particularly hazardous activity due to working in confined spaces. In addition, uncertain ground conditions and the use of heavy equipment creates additional occupational safety and health hazards for site personnel. The most modern approach related to the safety level increase introduced a dynamic safety engineering system consisting of innovative design solutions, safety measures and procedures which were defined according to the interaction between the rock mass and tunnelling, taking into account the tunnel size, the underground work organization and the excavation method and technique. Focusing the attention on large section tunnels (larger than 70 sqm) excavated traditionally the following recommendations are suggested:
– To guarantee rapid evacuation conditions from the hazardous area
– To forbid the contemporary execution of more than one operation at tunnel face (excavation, mucking out, shortcreting, steel ribs, etc)
– To reduce the number of exposed workers to the minimum required for each operation
– To reduce the duration of each operation to the minimum required Following this approach Maccaferri Tunneling developed the semi-automatic arch solution which doesn’t required the presence of workers close to the excavation face for the reinforcing element and invert installation. The arch is made up of 3 or 5 sections joined to each other and bended in order to respect the excavation section, as in the case of the traditional solution, The rib is connected to the previously installed one by means of connecting elements called the bracing. The evolution into an automatic arch required a detailed design of the innovative automatic unfolding hinges, arch-to-arch connection device and the arch foot support system which is extendable & telescopic and through a square joint made possible the invert connection.
Project 02
The Automatic Tubular Steel Arch
Tunnel linings are structural systems but they differ from other structural systems in their interaction with the surrounding ground, which is an integral aspect of their behaviour, stability and overall load carrying capacity. Stress and strain of the rock or ground masses are normally analysed, by many authorities, in two dimensions within a transverse section of a tunnel. In the vicinity of the tunnel face where the predominant deformation and stress redistributions occur, as the stressed rock is dislodged during excavation, the third dimension assumes a vital
role. These problems can be solved using a profile with a symmetrical axial cross section, like the one of tubular arch. By substituting the open profile with a circular one, a better stress redistribution is provided. This enables the resistant cross section the ability to accommodate and control axial and eccentric loads, acting along any direction. This fact is relevant in all cases where non homogeneous load conditions are expected, such as: skin effect in case of a tunnel excavated inside a landslide, squeezing.
The first peculiarity of the tubular reinforcement system lies in the joint plates, which are hollow and during concrete filling they allow the formation of a inner continuous concrete arch, ensuring full structural continuity of the composite element. The benefits gained by composite section behaviour and concrete filling have been demonstrated by field tests. The tubular arch highlighted a low stress level characterized by homogeneous distribution also in case of asymmetric load.
The high stiffness along any direction of the tubular section eliminated the buckling risk of the profile during installation. The innovation was completed by the development of a dedicated three arm erector machine for the tubular arch installation, which does not require the presence of workers close to the excavation face. The automatic tubular arch was shortlisted by the International Tunnelling Association ITA for the category ‘Safety Initiative of the Year’ in the occasion of ITA Awards 2015 and of ITA Awards 2019 for the development of a dedicated installation machine.
SPI specializes in the production, transportation, and storage of prefabricated concrete elements for infrastructure, particularly tunnel segments for mechanically excavated tunnels, and new jersey barriers for highways.
The company’s management boasts three decades of experience in the field, contributing to significant projects in Italy and abroad.
Spi’s mission is to construct an excellent and durable product in an innovative and sustainable manner. This is achieved through the involvement of a highly qualified team of experts in the production process and the use of cutting-edge machinery and equipment.
The company has embarked on a development path aligned with the goals of Agenda 2030, particularly by producing segments with sustainable concrete and establishing production sites near construction sites, thereby reducing CO2 emissions from transportation.
Via dell’Innovazione digitale 3 - Cremona
davide.bergogni@ spi-prefabbricati.it
www.spi-prefabbricati.it.
Project 01
SPI_07
We named it “SPI_07,” and it’s our new certified material that we offer for the construction and supply of highperformance and eco-friendly segments, ideal for use in highway, railway, and hydraulic tunnels. This solution was developed for the contract for the Bisagno Overflow in Genoa, a tunnel with a diameter of 9.8 meters and a length of 6.5 kilometers, designed to protect neighborhoods along the Bisagno stream from the risk of flooding. We customize the solution according to specific project requirements.
The “SPI_07” is composed of 0/4 sieved sand, 4/8 artificial gravel, 8/16 gravel, and CEM IV/A (P-V) 42.5N SR cement characterized by high sulfate resistance. During the mixing process, the Dynamon HS 2010 Additive is added to accelerate concrete curing. This results in a low CO2 impact cement conglomerate that maintains the same characteristics as traditional mixes. The “SPI_07” has been tested by our company, and it adheres to the designer’s specified limits: a strength class of 40/50 N/mm², a consistency of S4 in the fresh state, and an environmental exposure class of XC4-XS3.
Tests conducted on fresh concrete at our Carrosio plant include slump tests at different times (0 minutes and 30 minutes), temperature control, air content, and density measurements, determination of water content, water-tocement ratio, and preparation of fresh concrete specimens. For hardened concrete, we calculated the compressive strength of cubic specimens at 8-9 hours and 14-28 days of curing. The “SPI_07” represents one of our contributions, alongside the reduction of transportation through on-site production, to bring the world of infrastructure closer to environmental sustainability.
Location:
Carrosio - Via Jutificio
Client:
Costruire per Genova
Consortium:
Rocksoil, SETEC & CSD
Kind of service provided: Cement Conglomerate
Amount of works:
€3.000.000
Uretek Italia
Uretek Italia Spa is an Italian company, part of Uretek Group, based in Verona and engages in restoration of structures with resin injection.
It’s specialized in consolidation of foundation soils, walls restoring, raising of pavements, arrest of infiltration, filling of underground cavities and stabilisation of retaining walls. The company also carries out static safety and seismic risk reduction works on existing buildings in both geotechnical and structural areas.
Uretek’s interventions are characterised by their rapid installation, non-invasiveness, reduced settlement and the immediacy of the result. Uretek uses unique and patented technologies that act in a conservative way.
Uretek Group is made up of 350 people including engineers, geologists, architects, technicians, site operators, operations and logistics staff. The foreign subsidiaries are in France, Spain, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland and Slovenia.
uretek@uretek.it
Via Dosso del Duca, 16, 37021 Bosco Chiesanuova VR www.uretek.it
Tunnel railway cavity filling. Uretek is the solution Project 01
On the SNCF Horlogers railway line between France and Switzerland, Uretek completed the filling of cavities in a railway tunnel for a total of 85 m3 cavity that had formed in the vault of the 410 m long masonry Lachenoy tunnel, in which preliminary inspections had revealed the presence of cavities at the vault and ground interface, with the risk of detachment of rock blocks that would have impacted on the tunnel vault.
The outcome of the investigations identified a cavity of dimensions greater than those hypothesised; therefore, it was evaluated a technically and economically sustainable by proceeding with partial filling of the cavity. The intervention consisted of resin injections to confine the basal part of the cavity, the partial filling of the cavity with expanded clay, and the subsequent injection to form a layer of resin over the filling itself, in order to create a single shock-absorbing element generated on the tunnel vault by the falling rock blocks from the top of the cavity. The thickness of the backfill was defined to absorb the kinetic energy of a falling block from the vault of the cavity without it being transmitted to the extrados of the tunnel structure.
The logistical aspects were important, with the provision of a scaffold and a mobile basket in the work area, a temporary platform for the equipment and injection pump, located 100 m inside the tunnel, and an area outside the tunnel for the generator, air compressor, clay pump and storage of materials and big bags of clay which are moved to the pump with a crane on rails; the tunnel entrance is located approximately 1 km from the first access point from the road.
Throughout the intervention, Uretek technicians monitored the tunnel vault using a laser and inclinometer system. Afterwards, a video inspection verified and established the effectiveness of the intervention.
Location:
Villers-le-Lac, France
Kind of service provided:
Filling of cavities at the extrados of railway tunnel ceiling with clay and expanding resin
