Entry to the tunnelbuilder Hall of Fame is open to any project, method or machine that has outperformed the accepted norm in setting a worthwhile record. If you have an achievement ready for recognition, send full details to sam@tunnelbuilder.com and we will verify, edit and install it on our front page before allocating its permanent place in the Hall of Fame.

Dubai Metro - longest automated driverless train system
A section of Dubai Metro Red Line with 10 stations opened to the public on 10th September, 2009. Although the original planned opening date was made, Red Line construction is still underway to complete the envisaged 50 km of lines and 31 stations. Add to this the 20 km of Green Line with 22 stations due to open in June, 2010, and the 49 km Purple Line due 2012, and the Dubai Metro becomes the longest automated driverless train system in the world. For construction history of the underground section of Dubai Metro visit tunnelbuilder archive ae/14, and for background visit www.dubaimetro.eu. 37/09.

Päijänne - world's longest tunnel
Reader Juha Huovilainen juha.huovilainen@marimils.fi has updated the tunnelbuilder Hall of Fame entry for Päijänne tunnel in Finland. After 27 years as the world's longest water supply tunnel, we are happy to upgrade the Päijänne tunnel to a new status as the world's longest continuous tunnel from point to point.
The Päijänne tunnel is owned, maintained and operated by Helsinki Metropolitan Area Water Company. It is located in southern Finland, and the headquarters of the company are at Mannerheimintie 107, 00280 Helsinki, Finland. Visit www.psv-hrv.fi.
The tunnel supplies raw water to the Helsinki area waterworks for more than 1,000,000 inhabitants. It is 120 km long, from Lake Päijänne to Silvola reservoir. Its cross section is mainly 16 sq m, and average depth is 40-90 m below ground level. In the tunnel there is a water power plant, which regulates the discharge to the tunnel and generates electricity. The discharge capacity at free fall is about 10 cu m/s. The water intake is nowadays about 3.3 cu m/s and annually about 100 million cu m.
The tunnel was excavated in bedrock of the pre-Cambrian migmatite granites and gneisses zone of southern Finland. The excavation of the 24 access tunnels and the main tunnel started at the north end in November, 1973 and ended in Spring, 1982. Designed in the 1970s, at a time when there was little experience on construction of water tunnels, insufficient reinforcement was installed, resulting in later problems with falling rocks. Repair of the reinforcement in the northern part of the tunnel was undertaken in 2001, and in the southern part in 2008. Nowadays there are about 50,000 bolts and about 40 percent of the walls of the tunnel are shotcreted, which doubles the original reinforcement. Grouting has not been extensively used because leakage is not an issue when the tunnel is in use. 36/09.

World's longest water diversion tunnel
The 85.3 km-long, 8 m-diameter tunnel from Hengren county to Xinbin county in East Liaoning will deliver water from Dahuofang reservoir to more than 10 million people in 7 industrial cities in the province. Excavation started in September, 2006 and was completed on 15.04.2009. The alignment crosses 50 hills, 50 rivers and 29 faults. Cost will be US$1.5 billion. For more recordbreakers, visit tunnelbuilder Hall of Fame. 36/09.

Sauda Hydro - fastest drill/blast advance in one week Sauda Hydropower project in Norway, under construction by contractor AF Scandinavia for owner Elkem Saudefaldene, has set a new world record for weekly advance on a single face with their Atlas Copco Rocket Boomer XL3 C30 drill rig. In week 21, 2007 AF Scandinavia excavated 165 m of tunnel between Monday 21st May and Saturday 26th May, drilling and blasting 33 rounds in the 38 sq m section with an average time of less than 4 hours between each blast. Two shift teams took part in the record drive, working 06:00h to 02:00h, plus some overtime. Rock condition was good quality granite, without any need for shotcreting, requiring only 3 m-long rock bolts for support, 199 units of which were installed. Blasting agent was Orica bulk emulsion Titan 7000 slurry explosive and a low emission Volvo L220 loader equipped with Gjerstad side dump bucket shifted the muck. AF Scandinavia is part of AF Gruppen which has 1,800 employees and is one of Norway’s largest contractors. More from www.atlascopco.com/cmt, www.afgruppen.no, www.oricaminingservices.com and www.volvo.com/constructionequipment 27/07.

Eiksund - deepest road tunnel The world's deepest road tunnel is part of the new Eiksund-Furene Rv 653 highway in Norway which connects the mainland to a number of island communities. The Eiksund tunnel is 7.8 km-long and dives to -287 m beneath the surface of the fjord. It has three lanes with a gradient of 9.6% from its deepest point to the island of Eika, and two lanes at 7.6% to the mainland. It was driven by contractor Mesta AS, a turnkey supplier of safe roads, and will open to traffic by end-2007. Two Volvo L330 wheel loaders equipped with 7,000 litre Gjerstad side dump buckets shifted the muck. For more, visit tunnelbuilder.com Old News archive. 08/07.

Sicily's A20 - more tunnel than motorway
On 21st December, 2004 the 41.2 km Furiano-Castelbuono section was opened to complete the A20 Messina-Palermo motorway in Sicily, Italy. On the opposite carriageway, for technical reasons, only a shorter section was opened (Furiano-Tusa, 30 km). However, the A20 will be totally completed in April 2005. A difficult geology and orography have slowed down the construction.
On the final 30.6 km between Castelbuono and Caronia there are 16 tunnels with total length of about 18 km which, added to those previously completed, give the A20 the world record for the motorway with most metres in tunnel. With 110.309 km (that will became 117.121 km in April), the A20 roundly beats the previous champion, the A10 from Genoa to the French border, which has 93.779 km. On the third step of this hypothetic podium, we find the Gotthard motorway (A2), in Switzerland, with 89.757 m. Austrian Pyhrn Autobahn follows temporarily with 72.018 m. The Gotthard A2 motorway in Switzerland is No 3 with 89.757 km and the Austrian Pyhrn Autobahn currently has 72.018 km. In terms of length of tunnel for each km of highway the A20 has 650.3 m/km, the A10 has 596.9 m/km, while the A32 Turin-Frejus motorway takes third place with 473.4 m/km. Submitted by reader eugenio.merzagora@libero.it, source: Strade&Autostrade magazine, No. 49. More on www.stradeeautostrade.it 14/05.

Longest Horizontal Water Abstraction Well
In 2004 the precision horizontal directional drilling contractor Longbore drilled a 600 m-long blind well in London, UK using a directional drilling rig equipped with 246 m of 16 in casing and 354 m of 8.625 in well screen. The hole was some 30 m below surface and 19 m below the bed of the River Thames near Beckton STW. The abstraction rate of 6.5 million lit/day is the highest on record worldwide, and the technique could be used to help fill a predicted shortfall in the water supply to the city. Contacts: John S Ritchie jritchie@longbore.co.uk Ross Henderson rhenderson@longbore.co.uk 10/05.

TBM Advances in the 19th Century - putting technology into perspective
1818 Marc Brunel - patent for a circular tunnel shield
1823 Marc Brunel/Isambard Brunel - shield driven tunnel and first major river crossing Wapping to Rotherhithe, London, UK.
1831 Cochran - patent for compressed air excavation, used by I K Brunel for Saltash Bridge caissons, Plymouth, UK.
1870 Greathead - segmentally-lined, shield driven tunnel under a river, Tower Subway, London, UK.
1875 Beaumont - patent rock TBM drives the pilot of Mersey Tunnel, Liverpool, UK.
1887 Greathead - patent for rotary cutter shield mechanized fullface TBM.
1890 Greathead - segment erector.
1893 JJ Robbins - patent for shielded rock TBM.
1897 John Price - electrically powered fullface TBM with conical head and four rotating arms, moved forwards on hydraulic rams, Central Line, Shepherds Bush to Marble Arch, London, UK.
Submitted by reader dvdhindle@aol.com 36/04.

Spitsbergen - fastest recorded advance on a road tunnel

Channel Tunnel TBM - first tunnelling machine sold on e-bay
The 5.36 m-diameter Howden/Decon TBM that completed the landward service tunnel from Shakespeare Cliff to Holywell Combe in 1989, and was subsequently displayed at the Eurotunnel Exhibition Centre alongside the M20 motorway in Kent, UK, has been sold on e-bay to a private buyer for £39,999. It's sister machine, which drove the marine service tunnel, still holds the record for the longest single TBM drive, achieved between December, 1987 and October, 1990. After a run of 22 km, it reached within probehole distance from the TBM coming from France, made a 200 ft-radius curve away from the alignment, and was concreted in place. Visit www.eurotunnel.com 18/04.

Metrosur - fastest completion of an underground metro system
During the period 1999-2003, the Madrid regional government undertook planning, design, construction and commissioning of a grand total of 75 km of railway, 58 km in 9.4 m-diameter tunnel, together with 39 stations and 8 interchange stations, and the required rolling stock. This feat, which included the complete 40.5 km-long Metrosur circular underground line with 27 stations, three new depots and an electrical substation, was accomplished at a final unit cost, including rolling stock, of €42.1 million/km. Design started in August, 1999. Construction started 29th June, 2000 and was completed and commissioned on 11th April, 2003 including the rolling stock, 1500 V power system, and signalling system. The success of the project is attributed to the political direction and management by then Madrid President, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, who was subsequently elected as Mayor of the City of Madrid in May, 2003. More from es/24, or visit www.comadrid.es Contact Professor Manuel J. Melis, President of Metro de Madrid, who was responsible for the project, melismaynar@terra.es 46/03.

Aqueduct of Eupalinos - connected without GPS assistance
In the second half of the 6th century BC, the Ionian island of Samos developed into a major naval power under its ruler, Polykrates. He built city walls and a 360 m-long jetty, which is still in use today, 2,500 years later. He also commissioned a 2.5 m x 2.5 m aqueduct to bring water from the north of the acropolis to the south, near the city. Eupalinos of Megara carried out the work, using teams from both ends of the 1,046 m alignment. They met roughly in the middle, with only marginal error, creating a lasting monument. To this day, the tunnel of Eupalinos is viewed as an outstanding technical feat, and is well worth a visit. Details submitted by Alison Woolley sales@tunnelbuilder.com 40/02.

Rescue Through Drilled Shafts - not for large claustrophobics
The Quecreek Mine, Somerset, PA, USA rescue of nine miners on Saturday 27th July, 2002 involved truck mounted rotary rigs, which first drilled through the overburden and installed a 36 in casing. A 30 in Ingersoll Rand DTH rock bit was then used to the required 77 m depth, with supplementary air to assist in the uphole velocity. Additional 6-7 in holes were drilled around the area, through which pumps were lowered to help with dewatering. Warm air was forced into the mine to assist temperature control. The Governor of Pennsylvania was on site very quickly and made the necessary orders to close highways and eliminate bottlenecks to expedite transfer of the heavy equipment from West Virginia, making sure it arrived on the scene in time to affect the rescue, which took around 70 hours.
About 15 years earlier, the first of this type of rescue was carried out in NE Pennsylvania by Number One Contracting, a part of Sullivan Trail Coal Company. They employed their large Bucyrus Erie 51R and 40R rigs to drill into the mine, and designed and fabricated a cage to fit the hole.
A drilled rescue shaft was also installed during construction of the Inter Island Tunnel in Boston by S.A. Healy/Modern Continental in the late-1990s. Joseph Griffith, Construction Manager for the Owner, insisted on a 30 in hole to the tunnel, equipped with a personnel bell and manned crane. This arrangement later saved the entire crew, when they got trapped in the tunnel after a fire started in the vertical conveyor located in the main shaft.
To be successful, this type of rescue requires specific skills, experience and equipment to be instantly available, together with a political or management umbrella under which to work unhindered. However, without the developed expertise of the shaft drilling fraternity, none of this would be possible. The Institute of Shaft Drilling Technology is a part of the American Underground Construction Association, www.auca.org Submitted by Jack Burke jburkecon@cox.net 31/02.

Mt Baker Ridge - world's largest diameter soil tunnel
This 25.2 m outside diameter, 19.4 m inside diameter, 406 m-long tunnel was constructed in 1986 to carry five lanes of traffic and a bicycle/pedestrian lane through an 80 m high ridge along the east side of Seattle, WA, USA. The tunnel was constructed by Guy F. Atkinson Construction Company, using an innovative stacked drift method developed by HNTB and Shannon & Wilson, Inc.
The 24 horseshoe-shaped drifts forming the final structural lining of the tunnel were designed as a semi-flexible, unreinforced compression ring with a minimum thickness of 1.5 m. The 3 m-diameter drifts were excavated with a horseshoe-shaped digger shield through hard glacial clay. Total settlement after removal of the soil core was generally less than 5 cm. Three decks were constructed within the structural lining for carrying traffic. Submitted by Robert "Red" Robinson rar@shanwil.com Visit www.shannonwilson.com

Paijanne - world's longest water supply tunnel
The 120 km-long x 13.5-18.0 sq m aqueduct from Lake Paijanne to Helsinki was constructed in seven separate contracts commencing in 1975 using pneumatic drillrigs. It has a volume of 2 million cu m and capacity 10 cu m/sec without pumping and 20 cu m/sec with pumping. The change in elevation end to end is just 36 m, and the depth in bedrock varies from 30 to 80 m. The flow runs an 830 kW turbine. For a map of the tunnel visit www.hel.fi/vesi/english/puhdist.htm Information from Pasi Jokela pjo@cc.hut.fi 05/02.

Dragados at Metrosur - fastest startup of a large TBM
On October 4th, 2000, top Spanish contractor Dragados launched its refurbished 9.38 m-diameter NFM TBM La Chata at Leganes on contract 6 of the 40.5 km-long Madrid Metrosur project. The 200 m-long x 10 m-wide x 16 m-deep launch pit was in an area of open fields, and was designed to allow for complete assembly of the TBM and backup, along with a muck pit for transferring spoil by backhoe to road trucks. A ring of six 1.5 m-wide segments and key was used, complete with a base segment placed inside the ring to accommodate twin rail tracks. Injection mortar was a dry mix, with low cement and high ash content, for easy pumping. The geology comprised mainly alluvials. In the next 70 days to December 12th, 2000 La Chata achieved a consistent 20 m/day to pass the 1.4 km mark. She was delayed at this point for a changeover to disc cutters, having hit a band of exceptionally hard ground. Not bad going, for a five year-old machine that already has a large chunk of Madrid Metro extensions to her credit! Visit www.dragados.com and www.comadrid.es/cmadrid/metro

Laerdal - world’s longest road tunnel

Bhima-Sina - fastest-ever hand driven rock tunnel
This water transfer tunnel for the Sina Madha project in Maharashtra, India involved 20.2 km x 50 sq m arched section of natural tunnel in basalt, with 300 m of open cut at each portal. Contractor B T Patil opted for handheld drilling, and sank five intermediate shafts in order to create ten extra points of attack. Starting in January, 1998, with 650 drillers and 150 sets of Atlas Copco RH 656-4W pneumatic rockdrills fitted with BMK 62S pusher legs, the tunnel was advanced on 12 faces and final breakthrough was achieved before end-1999. A total 2.6 million tonnes of spoil was excavated on a 2 x 12 h shift/day, 6.5 days/week, with nine drillers on two-deck platforms at each face using chisel-tipped steel of up to 3.3 m x 32 mm-diameter to drill 106 holes/round in a double wedge configuration in under 3.5 hours. Main charge was packaged ANFO primed with special gelatine and half-second delay electric detonators. Responsible directors were Naveen Patil and Sujay Ladge. The method was so successful that the contractor has since taken on two similar jobs. See in/12 and for further details contact patson@bgl.vsnl.net.in

Seikan - world’s longest rail tunnel
Marine railway tunnel 53.9 km long joining Japanese home islands of Hokkaido and Honshu. Extended construction period 1972-1985 was bedevilled by flooding and differing ground conditions. It is said that this tunnel was redundant before completion because of the proliferation of 600-seat jumbo jets flying between the two islands.

Channel Tunnel - world’s largest construction project                          

Opened for traffic in March, 1994 having cost $14 bn for 50 km tunnel and two terminals with all rolling stock. Employed 11 TBMs on two large-section running tunnels and smaller service tunnel driving from shafts at Sangatte in France and Shakespeare Cliff in England. One of the French landward running tunnel TBMs was turned for a second run. Two major crossover chambers under the Channel.

CERN - most successful collider

26.7 km, 3.8 m internal diameter Large Electron Positron collider situated near Geneva. One of the series of particle physics laboratories built since the War (known as atom smashers), CERN achieved its design objective within three weeks of commissioning in 1992. Currently under extension to accommodate larger experiments. Two rivals of CERN, the 20.7 km x 5.1 m internal diameter Protvino collider near Moscow, and the 86 km x 4.3 m internal diameter Supercollider at Waxahachie, TX were cancelled during their construction phase.

Trans-Tokyo Bay Highway - most expensive TBMs

$15 billion, 104-month project required 10 km of huge 11.9 m i.d. twin tunnels constructed using eight 14.14 m diameter slurry TBMs driving from man-made islands. These were equipped with automatic segment erectors and were said to cost $100 million each. Opened to traffic early-1998.

Madrid Metro - fastest into service

Four-year program of extensions involving 14 major contracts to build 37.5 km of underground line with 35 stations and 18 km of surface line with four stations resulted in the lowest cost/metre and shortest commissioning time ever recorded. Tunnelled section brought in at below $35 million/km including stations. Mainly driven using EPB machines with some cover-and-cut and traditional Madrid method. Design commenced August, 1995 and lines opened from mid-1998 progressively.

www comadrid.es/cmadrid/metro

TARP - world’s largest sewer

Chicago’s tunnel and reservoir plan to handle the city’s sewage and stormwater involves more bulk excavation than any other. When completed, the system will comprise 131.1 miles of large-diameter deep tunnels and 251 vertical drop shafts. The tunneling horizon is 200-350 ft below surface in the Silurian dolomite of about 22,000 psi ucs. TBMs up to 35ft diameter have been employed since September, 1975. The operation was characterised by innovative engineering and set records in boring, shaft drilling, spoil conveying, shaft conveying, and concreting.

This amazing project was still breaking records in its final stages as the various TBMs employed by Kenny/Kiewit/Shea completed the Torrence Avenue section in early 2000. The Robbins TBM, modified for the third time to 8.7 m diameter, set a best shift of 35 m, a best day of 97 m, and a best month of 1.6 km. The crews then set about the established lining records with a daily 71.3 m advance with a full circle formworks which consumed 720 cu m of concrete. The logistics of conveying and placing such daily quantities within the confines of a tunnel defy the imagination.

Lapland Radar Station - longest steep drive

To construct a military radar station on the top of a mountain at 1,718 m above sea level in northern Norway, it was decided to gain access by tunnelling, for protection both from the weather and from possible bombardment. The tunnel was 17 m² cross-section and over 10 km long. Its gradient was 1:7 to the 1,080 m level, increasing thereafter to 1:5 all the way to the top, making for a rise of 1.4 km over its full length. Maximum advance was 113 m/week in the 3.5 m-wide drive using an Atlas Copco Boomer 322, wheel-mounted Haggloader, and Mercedes Benz tipper trucks with engine braking. Contractor was Malselv Anlegg.

Maximum advance notified as 145 m/week of 5.5 days with 2 x 9.5 h/shift. Average advance over the entire project was 91 m/week including turning niches for trucks every 250 m. Lorries were Mercedes Benz 5035 5-axle with 21 cu m rock bodies, and Haggloader was type 10HR rubber-tyred with dual digging blades, or paddles. Visit www.miningandconstruction.com and www.rockmachines.se for face equipment details. The Vikings have now registered this project as a world record for rubber-tyred tunnelling in the less than 20 sq m category. Any challenges to this claim?

All project details recorded at www.tunnelbuilder.com are subject to challenge by readers and can be revised at any time. Fresh inputs to all departments are always welcome on sam@tunnelbuilder.com

River Elbe - world’s largest slurry TBM

Herrenknecht Mixshield 14.2 m diameter and weighing 2,600 t was built in 1997 to drive 2.58 km through sands, mudstones and alluvium with ground cover of 7m to 13m beneath riverbed in Hamburg, Germany. The shield was designed to withstand 5.5 bar of static head to overcome the effect of tidal flows. Advances of around 6 m/day recorded.

Svartisen - world’s most powerful TBMs

Three Robbins HP machines were built in 1990 to work effectively in mica-schist and mica-gneiss for Statkraft in Norway. These TBMs can sustain an operating cutterhead thrust of up to 928,000 kg with rated power of 2,345 kW. They use 483 mm cutters which can sustain 32 t thrust apiece. The best performance was recorded by No 252 at 57.3 m/shift, 90.2 m/day, 360.5 m/week, and 1,142.9 m/month with a 4.3 m cutterhead.

Syar - fastest-ever advance in hard rock

Robbins 129-182 refurbished by Boretec to a 11ft 10in diameter started 32,000 ft drive in tertiary sedimentary rocks comprising shales, limestones, siltstones and claystones on 8th July, 1989 and achieved 417 ft/day, 1,717 ft/week, 5,866 ft/month, and 5 consecutive days of 344 ft. Apart from the phenomenal TBM performance, this was also one of the most successful applications of conveyor belts in tunnels. Contractor was Morrison Knudsen.

Gjovik Ice Cavern - largest unsupported span

Dimensions of hall are 62 m wide, 91 m long and 25 m high to accommodate 5,400 spectators. Excavated in eight months in 1991 for Norway’s 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics as an ice hockey rink. 140,000 m³ of rock was blasted and removed and 1,300 m³ of steel fibre reinforced shotcrete placed along with 3,000 rockbolts and 3,000 cable bolts. Maximum settlement of the roof was 8 mm. Contractors were Veidekke and Selmer in joint venture. Design by Noteby, NGI, Sintef and Fortifikasjon.

Stavanger - most heroic TBM drive

In 1990 an Atlas Copco Jarva Mk 12 TBM working for Norwegian contractor Kruse Smith ran into rock with a 96 % quartz content and compressive strength of 350 MPa (50,000 psi). The machine maintained an average of 2.5 m/h for the 700 m quartzitic band, at one stage wearing out 102 cutters in a week for 54 m advance. Once out of the zone, the machine achieved 53.7 m in one shift and 350 m in one week, a Norwegian best for 122 h work.

Viikimaki - largest underground treatment plant

Built in Helsinki over the period 1988-1991 to serve a population of 650,000 together with associated industry, the Viiki sewage plant involved excavation of 997,000 m³ of rock using drill/blast techniques to form 28 caverns. At peak production, 3,500 m³/day was broken and trucked away. Lemminkainen was the contractor.

London Water Ring Main - largest circulating aqueduct

Completed in 1993 and commissioned in 1995, the 80 km main supplies 6 million people with 1,300 million litres of drinking water each day. Much of the tunnel was excavated by 3.3 m and 2.5 m diameter Lovat EPBs installing a wedgeblock concrete segmental lining at up to 100 m/day.

New York No 3 Water Tunnel - hardest TBM drive

Largest and most costly construction project in the history of New York, involving excavation of 93 km of deep tunnel in the igneous Brooklyn injection gneiss formation with ucs to 275 Mpa (39,000 psi). 21 km Stage 1 was completed by drill/blast; 29 km Stage 2 is nearing completion in three sections using 7.06 m Robbins HP TBM armed with 50 x 482 mm cutters and 3,150 kW; and 43 km of Stages 3 & 4 are in design. It had been said that TBMs could not work consistently in such hard, abrasive rock. However, Grow-Perini-Skanska managed 15 m/day on Stage 2 in 1998, albeit with frequent cutter changes.

Trans-Apennine Railway - virtually all in tunnel

This job is remarkable in that the actual alignment of the railway is 73 km while the length of tunnel required to construct it is 85 km. This is due to some 15 km of access adits being required for the longer or more difficult drives. The contractor is Cavet and the consultant is Fiat Engineering.

Papallacta – highest elevation TBM

This 6.2 km water transfer tunnel was started on September 15^th, 1988 by Alfred Kunz 3,717 m up a mountain 45 km from the Ecuador capital of Quito using a Robbins TBM Model 105-144 rebuilt by Boretec of Solon, OH. Because of the extreme elevation, oxygen starvation was a real problem, and diesel equipment had to be avoided. Battery powered locomotives were employed, and filtered, decompressed air was used at the face to improve the ventilation. The TBM had bored 5 km when a huge collapse of 1,200 cu m of ground occurred. The contractors set about mining around both sides of the TBM and erecting steel setts as a canopy over the machine. They then pumped grout to stabilise the void, and restarted the TBM. Meantime, as a precaution, they had started drill/blast from the exit portal, and the two headings met at the 400 m mark, with the TBM having completed 5.75 km. The machine, which had already mined 5 km of collector tunnel in Montreal, was shipped to Australia where it is still working.

Eight longest tunnels - total 200 km spanning 112 years

Longest individual tunnels in operation in 1999 are: Seikan, Japan 55 km (1988); Chunnel, England-France 50 km (1993); Daishimizu, Japan 22.2 km (1982); Hudson Subway, U.S. 19.9 km (1909); Simplon, Italy-Switzerland 19.8 km (1906); Shin-Kanmon, Japan 18.6 km (1975); Gotthard Road, Switzerland 16.3 km (1980); Gotthard Rail, Switzerland 15 km (1881); Lotschberg Rail, Switzerland 14.6 km (1914).

Longest tunnels under construction in 1999 are: Gotthard Base, Switzerland 57 km (2010); Lotschberg Base, Switzerland 36 km (2010); Alpetunnel, France-Italy 52 km (2015).

Tunnel de Marseille - concrete pumping marathon

At 17.10 on Wednesday 28th July, 1999 Delta Pompage of Chambery, France claimed the world long distance concrete pumping record when it delivered 230 cu m over a distance of 2,719.65 m at the Puits Carriere site on the TGV Mediterranee using a Schwing model BP 8000 HDRE 18 2 x 160 kW pump. Pipe used was 125 mm with 8 mm wall and at full distance there was 25-30 cu m of concrete in circuit. The shaft into the tunnel was 200 m-deep. During a two-year period, over 190,000 cu m of concrete was pumped into the Marseille tunnel for the joint venture of Fougerolle-Ballot, Campenon Bernard, Razel and Pico. The record came about as a result of close collaboration between Delta Pompage, Lafarge and Schwing-Stetter. Project manager for the contracting consortium was Guy Cueille. Visit www.schwing.de for more details.

Blue Mountains - more than 2 km in a month

McConnell Dowell in joint venture with Obayashi starting in late-1993 used a 3.4 m-diameter Atlas Copco Robbins Mk 12 TBM with Terratec continuously advancing conveyor backup to achieve the following records on the 13.4 km-long Blue Mountains Sewer Carrier from Katoomba to Hazelbrook in New South Wales, Australia: best day 172.5 m; best week 703.3 m; best 8 h shift 77.5 m; best four weeks 2,166 m. The drive was in abrasive sandstone of average 40-50 Mpa with 80% silica content and cutter life was 400 cu m or 40 linear metres. Nine ventilation shafts of 3 m and 1.5 m-diameter were blind drilled in advance to depths of 60 m to 115 m. The contract was completed 15 months ahead of schedule. Visit www.terratec.com.au

Bomlafjord - world's longest fjord crossing

Following two years work, breakthrough took place 2^nd September, 1999 between faces excavated by Statens Vegvesen from Sveio on mainland Norway using an AMV jumbo, and by NCC Eeg-Henriksen Anlegg/NCC jv from Stord on the island of Foyno using an Atlas Copco 188 three-boom drillrig. Geology was established using directionally-drilled cored holes up to 900 m long, and tunnel was positioned for minimum rock cover of 35 m which required a maximum 8% gradient to 240 m below sea level. Five probeholes with lengths of 21 - 24 m were drilled from each face every third round, and every round was inspected by a geologist following blasting. Rock quality was generally favourable, with 58 % classified as good or very good. Average weekly production on each face was 55 m, with a maximum of 96 m. Total average closure was 109 m/week against planned 80 m/week, so tunnel was completed six months ahead of time. Overall length of tunnel was 7.921 km, 3.4 km of which was under the sea. Cost of tunnel $61 million. 700,000 t of spoil was barged by sea to a neighbouring community. Tunnel opened to traffic in December, 2000. Visit www.ncc.se and www.atlascopco.com and www.vegvesen.no

Crossing the Westerschelde - TBMs under pressure
The two Herrenknecht 11.34 m-diameter slurry TBMs working at the 6.6 km-long Westerschelde subsea highway tunnels in The Netherlands experienced pressures of 7 bar, the highest ever sustained by shielded TBMs. The huge pressures produced a slight deformity of the shields on both machines, which in turn reduced the annulus available for steering corrections and hampered erection of the segmental concrete lining. The solution was to install larger gauge cutters, something that had never previously been attempted under such extreme pressures. Fortunately, the need for a saturation diving system had been foreseen, and the necessary installations were available at site. These included a 3-bar divers' surface habitat capable of supporting up to 28-day operations, a pressurised 4-man transfer capsule between habitat and face, two-stage airlock chambers on the TBMs, and a full crew of highly-experienced North Sea divers. Twelve cutters on the west machine were successfully replaced during w/b 12th June, 2000 in a difficult diving operation in bentonite at 6.9 bar pressure. The TBMs were each equipped with five plates which could be pressed forward to support the face in the sand strata, and had twin onboard 50 cfm compressors supplemented by a VHP 400 emergency compressor which, in turn, was backed up by a similar rail-mounted unit kept ready at surface. A repeat operation to replace the gauge cutters on the east machine was completed a month later. This was the first time that a full series of saturation dives had been carried out in any tunnel, and redefined the limits of what can be achieved in the modern tunnelling situation with foresight, advanced equipment design, and proper preparation. Project managers for the dives were Ron Bal and Shaun Barnes of Noordhoek Diving BV, Zieriksee, Netherlands with their team of divers Maarten Holleman, Marco Scheurwater, Peter van der Weide, Leen van der Meyden, Nobel Khachabi, Willem Schofaerts, and Jos van Wijk. Visit www.herrenknecht.com, www.westerscheldetunnel.nl and tunnelbuilder project news Netherlands nl/18.

Encyclopaedia of Tunnelling, Mining & Drilling Equipment - ultimate big read
This remarkable three-volume tome by Barbara Stack must be acknowledged as an extraordinary piece of research into technological history and modern operational practice in tunnelling and mining. It is also an outstanding example of felicitous writing and illustrating. It must rank as one of the most important technical and historical contributions to the industry of the last 50 years. Published by Muden in 1995. Click here for more details or contact Jenny Day, muden.publishing@bigpond.com 38/02.