Welcome to the digital edition of the TunnelTalk Annual Review 2012 Each of the articles has been published first on www.TunnelTalk.com, the leading online magazine for the global underground construction industry. All the articles are hotlinked to the TunnelTalk online Archive allowing for direct, free access to the full coverage and a wealth of additional information. All advertisements are also hotlinked directly to the advertiser’s website. All featured videos are linked to the TunnelTalk YouTube channel. Digital issues of the Annual Review are available for purchase, allowing you to build a historic reference of the international tunnelling industry.
Annual Review
2012 A
s the global construction sector in general came under pressure in 2012, tunnelling and underground projects continued to buck the trend. In fact, the volume of tunnelling and underground space being planned, designed and constructed across the globe during the year was of a scale to break all records. Despite major contractions in public spending to balance over-stretched national budgets, investment in tunnelling and underground space excavation projects, as a percentage of GDP investments in public infrastructure, was at its highest. High-speed rail, flood control, metro systems, water supply, environmental protection, international transportation links, preparing for major global sporting events, reserving surface space to preserve the quality of life - all are drivers of the record breaking demand in tunnelling. Crossover into associated industries is also creating demand. Development of new underground mining operations, links to offshore oil and gas fields, power cable conduits, the development of new nuclear power stations, underground repositories for nuclear waste and nuclear physics experimentation - these too are placing demands on the civil tunnelling design, equipment manufacturing, construction, and materials production and supply sectors of the industry. News stories and editorial coverage all the above applications of civil tunnelling expertise were published on the TunnelTalk website during the course of 2012. They are reproduced here as a printed publication of the year’s activities and achievements. The first two articles in Volume 3 of our Annual Review report major studies by international analysts that confirm the global trend towards an increase in the development of underground space projects. As well as covering major events in the industry, TunnelTalk has also progressed the promotion of education and training courses and academies around the world that encourage the next generation of new recruits in the engineering and tunnelling crews. Together with written articles, our TunnelCast video reports have provided a platform on which senior engineers and new recruits on projects around the world have spoken directly about their interest in tunnelling and the rewarding career it offers. The fast-growing readership of our free and open-access TunnelTalk.com website confirms further the growth in interest and international demand for information and news about the industry. In 2012, hits on TunnelTalk topped more than 1.5 million/month, and a total of more than 13.7 million for the year. Readers and visits to the site increased to more than 56,000/ month, with more than 27,000 of these registered as unique returning readers. The TunnelTalk social media accounts also proved popular. In January 2013, we received a message from LinkedIn that had us celebrating - in 2012, TunnelTalk was among the top 5% most viewed LinkedIn accounts for the year. The value of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and our YouTube channel of video productions are powerful instruments for spreading news and keeping the global community connected and informed. Through 2013 TunnelTalk will continue its dedicated coverage of the international tunnelling industry, expanding its coverage to include more technical development articles, under the new TunnelTech section, and developing its Equipment Sales, Procurement, Job Opportunities, Directory and Diary Dates services. Keep us on your RSS feed, join our free weekly content Alert e-mail distribution list, harness the power of the internet to drive traffic to your website via your advertisement campaigns on TunnelTalk, and continue to enjoy free and open access to our growing Archive of information about this exciting and demanding industry. n
Direct by Design PUBLISHER & EDITOR Shani Wallis
DESIGN & PRODUCTION Claire Hunt
ADVERTISING INTERNATIONAL Binda Punj
ONLINE EDITOR & REPORTER Peter Kenyon
ADVERTISING NORTH AMERICA Judy Green
NEWS BRIEFS EDITOR & REPORTER Armand van Wijck
VOLUME 3 Order extra copies of the 2010, 2011 and 2012 issues online www.TunnelTalk.com ContactUs@TunnelTalk.com Copyright© TunnelTalk 2013. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. All views expressed in this journal are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily the opinions of the publisher, neither do the publishers endorse any of the claims made in the articles or the advertisements. Printed by Buxton Press Ltd, UK.
Underground in Action U
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GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE 5 Examining underground contributions to global activity MEGA PROJECTS 7 Extreme tunnel planned for Andes rail link 8 Prequalifiers called for Fehmarn sea link 9 Long-distance undersea highway for Norway 10 TBMs to excavate Norway’s Oslo-Ski Folio Line 12 Crossing the Himalayas by rail 13 UK moves forward with high speed rail development 14 Funding boost for Northern Line extension 15 California secures funding for high speed rail 16 Support for California’s mega water delivery project PLANNED PROJECTS 18 Ireland preparing a design-build 9km sea outfall 18 Immersed tube metro plans for Holland’s Lake IJmeer 18 Europe hydro vision needs 165km of tunnels 20 Middle East plans for Riyadh and Doha Metros 22 Underground elements in Sydney’s transportation vision PROJECT PROGRESS 24 TBM launches and SCL beginnings for Crossrail 26 London Lee Tunnel TBM drive underway 28 First TBM delivered for Koralm Alpine project 28 Megalots for Italian coastal highway 29 Sochi winning on the Olympics alpine route 30 Building Holland’s first double-deck tunnel 32 Air traffic demanded innovation near Schipol 32 Court seals Italian highway deal 33 Giant Sparvo EPBM completes first drive 35 Iceland progresses road tunnel plans 35 Norway awards road and rail upgrades 36 Gdansk river crossing 36 Slurry TBM arrives for Irish gas project 36 Hamburg drives for particle experiments 38 All STEP tunnels underway in Abu Dhabi 39 TBMs set for Malaysia challenge 40 Singapore begins its cable connections 40 Deep level drive in Mumbai 42 Mountain headings for water supply in Malaysia 44 China opens longest high-speed railway 45 Four TBMs and drill+blast for high altitude Andean hydro 46 Chilean mines invest in underground expansion 46 Fresh EIA required to allow Colombia tunnel to progress 47 Argentina and Brazil prepare for long TBM drives 50 First TBM launch on Panama metro drive 50 TBM completes Mexico City Metro drive 51 Brazil ore-port drives 52 First drive through for Miami Port link 54 East Side Access advance 55 EPBMs and SEM under San Francisco 56 Seattle sewer upgrades 56 DC water tunnel pushing progress 57 Progress and plans for Toronto transit 58 Financial close seals Midtown Tunnel start 58 Ottawa awards Confederation Line 59 Seattle U-Link achievements and LRT extensions TBM RECORDER 62 Mega Seattle TBM tested in Japan 64 Russia invests in metro extensions 64 Innovative TBM powers through French mountains 66 EPBMs manage mixed ground in Nanjing 66 Six Robbins EPBMs set in Singapore 67 First of four Seli EPBMs ready for Copenhagen 68 Progress at Kishanganga, Hong Kong and Rome 69 Terratec rolls out TBMs for Bangkok and Delhi Metros 70 Double shield taking on tough work in Turkey 70 Design changes help secure project success 71 Brisbane advances its next vital traffic link 72 Mobilizing for the deep rock connector 73 Beijing completes underwater metro drive 74 High-power TBMs for Texas water line 74 Micromachine powers Swiss drive for renewable energy 75 State visits for the tunnelling industry DISCUSSION FORUM 76 Winning back trust in the Amsterdam Metro 77 Rekindled NATM SEM SCL debate 79 Superstorm devastation 80 Expert witnesses and forensic consultants 81 New Products and Innovations 84 SAFETY 87 CONFERENCES 92 Education and Training 95 Honours and Tributes
