NEWS |


Lyon-Turin pushes ahead on multiple work fronts


Safe rescue on trapped India tunnel workers INDIA – Safe rescue of dozens of workers trapped behind a partial collapse of the road tunnel under construction in India was finally and successfully achieved as the world watched in the closing period of last year following varied efforts and difficulties in reaching them. More than 40 tunnel workers were


trapped underground in the Silkyara Bend-Barkot Tunnel, which is well under construction in the state of Uttarakhand, in part of the Himalayan region of northern India. The local, partial collapse of the tunnel occurred in mid-November. Multiple national services were engaged and international support given to help the rescue effort. The rescue operation was hampered by


Above: A further TBM for Lyon-Turin tunnel in the Alps PHOTO CREDIT: TELT


FRANCE, ITALY – Another TBM for excavations on Mount Cenis Base Tunnel, a key part of the Lyon-Turin high-speed underground rail line through the Alps, recently passed its Factory Acceptance Test (FAT). The Herrenknecht machine will


be operated by the Italian-French group CO 6-7, comprising Vinci Construction, Webuild, Dodin Campenon Bernard and Campenon Bernard Centre Est on the Lyon- Turin binational project. The 10.4m-diameter TBM is


to excavate 9km of the north tube, alongside the work already completed on the south tube, between Saint-Martin-La-Porte and La Praz. The first Herrenknecht TBM for CO


6-7 passed its FAT in July last year. The TBM will bore a tube. Each TBM has 8,100kW of power,


weighs 2,300 tons and is equipped with 61 cutters. The 57.5km-long Mont Cenis base


tunnel – 12.5km in Italy and 45km in France – will be one of the longest rail tunnels in the world. Project developer, Tunnel Euralpin


Lyon-Turin (TELT), said work on the French-Italian high-speed rail tunnel is progressing on 11 fronts. By late last year more than a fifth of the tunnel had been excavated. With construction underway


across multiple sites, TELT said the works include:


6 | January 2024 - On the Saint-Julien-Montdenis


site, excavation with the traditional method is progressing. - At Saint-Martin-la-Porte, the


consolidation of the entrance face of the West Logistics Tunnel and the excavation of the second logistics tunnel continues. - Towards the Italian border, in


the Villarodin-Bourget/Modane area, traditional method of tunnelling is used to construct technical caverns for uses including TBM assembly/logistics. TELT awarded a contract for


recovery of excavation materials on the French side of the Mont Cenis Tunnel (works package CO11) to a consortium comprising Vinci Construction subsidiaries Eurovia Alpes, Carrières du Bassin Rhônalpin, and Terélian; VICAT subsidiaries SATM and Granulats Vicat; and, Spie Batignolles Valérian, Spie Batignolles Malet and GIE GMM 73. The contract covers industrial


processing of the 23 million tonnes of materials with a ‘circular economy’ approach, including reuse of over 50% of the spoil across the construction sites. The complex is to include three permanent storage sites, three materials processing stations, eight logistics platforms, 15km of conveyor belts and a full train loading facility.


the area’s complex geology and concerns over the potential for further instability. A variety of methods were tried to


tunnel through the collapse mound to reach the workers. Narrow ‘lifeline’ pipes were forced


through to provide supplies of oxygen, water, food and communications to the trapped men. Efforts to drive large diameter pipes had difficulty – including auger and hand-mining – and finally managed to install the long, 90cm pipe to then extract each worker, one at a time, on wheeled stretchers.


Another TBM ready for Sicilian railway ITALY – Webuild’s second, 9.36m-diameter TBM for the high-capacity railway tunnel works in Sicily, on part of the section in the eastern part of the island between Messina and Catania, is due to arrive on site in early 2024 after recently passing its Factory Acceptance Test (FAT). The company is working on seven


lots along the Palermo-Catania-Messina railway, commissioned by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), the infrastructure arm of state rail operator Gruppo FS Italiane. An automated concrete segment


production factory has been set up at Belpasso, near Catania, for the two lots awarded to Webuild between Catania and Messina. Webuild is responsible for Lot 1


Fiumefreddo-Taormina/Letojanni (15.4km) and Lot 2 Taormina-Giampilieri (28.4km) between Catania and Messina. On the Palermo – Catania section it


is working on a variety of lots, some in consortium with Ghella.


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