DRILL & BLAST | NORWAY
STATS UPDATE: 2024
NORWEGIAN TUNNELLING
The latest annual data on tunnelling activity in Norway tells of yet another consecutive year of higher activity overall as well as further changes in the leaders table
TUNNELLING ACTIVITY Since 2019-20 the total tunnelling activity in Norway has been on an upward climb almost continuously. The pandemic caused the output only to plateau and then the climb resumed. Compared to 2021 the level of activity has increased more than 60% to approximate 6.8 million m3
over the
period, according to the latest national figures from the Norwegian Tunnelling Society (NFF - Norsk Forening Fjellsprengningsteknikk). In fact, the level of activity has grown so much since
2021 that over the last 53 years of records there were only three years, and recent ones - 2015-17 - that were greater in overall tunnelling activity. And, two of the said years were only slightly above the total activity reported for 2024, and that leaves the year to beat as 2017 which approached 7.8 million m3
. Drill and blast is the predominate method of
tunnelling in the generally hard rock northern country. Some TBM works take place but are very much in a minority position, overall.
m3
The increase in tunnelling activity last year - 841,000 more than the approx 6 million m3
in 2023, or a rise
of 14% - was driven by even more activity in the road tunnelling sector. Work on roads tunnels dominates tunnelling in Norway and it has rapidly scaled up over the last few years, after a downturn at the turn of the decade. Before then the level amount of road tunnelling work was also high - the activities in both 2015 and 2016 being on par with 2024. In total, road tunnel activity was approximately 4.6 , or about two-thirds of the total for last
million m3
year. The other tunnelling activities that made up the other third of total tunnelling activity last year included excavations for rail & metros, water supply, hydropower, storage caverns and miscellaneous other categories. Tunnelling for rail has fluctuated markedly over the
last nearly 20 years, with peaks in 2013, 2017 and 2021. Investment in water supply tunnels has increased of
late, notably since 2018, with only sporadic spend on such excavations over the prior decades, primarily in the 1990s.
Above: Early excavation at Kvitsøy Lot, E39 Rogfast road tunnel, Norway PHOTO CREDIT: NPRA 14 | February 2025
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