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Ten meters a day through the ground of Cologne |
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Two eight and a half meter big red cutting wheels start to rotate slowly. Two steel worms of 1,000 tons weight and almost 76 m length are lying behind them.
In Schwanau/Baden, a delegation from Cologne applauded company director Martin Herrenknecht who had finished the two large tunnel boring machines (TBM) for the construction of the North-South-city railway.
Starting on June, 6th, the monstrous boring tubes, powered by 1,100 kW (approx. 1,400 hp) each, shall excavate the south tunnel starting from the "Bonner Wall", by order of the KVB (Municipal Transport Services of Cologne).
In parallel, they will delayed bore into the ground, nearly 3.6 km to the "Kurt-Hackenberg-Platz", where they will be manoeuvred out of the earth. In the north, starting at "Breslauer Platz", a third, smaller TBM will excavate another two tunnel sections of 260 m length, approaching the "Philharmonie".
Afterwards, both sections will be conjoint by means of open cut tunnelling.
It is planned that the small TBM shall start July, 4th; and the second large TBM August, 7th. By the end of 2007, the tunnels should be completed; in 2010, the first trains should drive. But first of all, the transport of the boring tubes, worth eight million Euros, is upcoming. At present, they are disassembled and transported to Kehl at the Rhine with 17 semitrailer trucks. From there, transport will continue on four ships to the harbour Godorf, 400 km distant, where the first machine parts are expected at the beginning of March. The heads of the boring tubes, called shields, will follow by the end of April. Due to the assembly of the shields and their trailers with the complete technology required, the "Bonner Straße" will probably be completely blocked twice for several days (for the first time at the weekend March 10 - 12).
For the actual boring, the so-called shield tunnelling, 162 employees will be operating in three shifts day and night; each machine with eight men.
Supply will be provided through a storage facility sized 9,000 m² on the railroad property "Bonntor". The excavated soil will be pumped up with a clay-water-mixture; the concrete elements, building the tunnel wall, will be carried into the tunnel by means of a dedicated rail system. The machine is able to bore up to 6 cm per minute through the ground. That means between ten and twelve meters of tunnel per day.
"The residents did not sense more than a low hum when the machine crossed their houses within one day," stated Walter Böllinger, KVB-spokesman of the managing board. With a boring depth between 8 and 25 m, no archaeological finds would be destroyed.
Walter Reinarz, KVB-manager, appeals to make proposals for "kölsch" names for the three tunnel boring machines; the winner will expect a festivity in the "Colonia Express".
Source: Kölner Wochenspiegel
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Company links
Engineering consult. IBE
Evaluation, planning, survey of sealing and injection measures.
http://www.i-b-e.de
EFNARC Publications
Download Specifications and Guidelines for sprayed concrete and special products for Mechanised Tunnelling (TBM)
more...
W. Durstmüller GmbH
Your leading specialist for tunnelling equipment, compressed air mining- and drill hammers, ICS Concrete chainsaws
www.dula.at
Microtunnelling
Tunnelling contractor "Shachtstroy" executes microtunnelling drives from 400 to 2000 mm diameter.
www.mpso-sss.ru
SPT Pumps
Professional pump for construction sites from 0,25 up to 65 kW.
www.SPT-Pumpen.de
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