UTILITIES | TRENCHLESS
NEW COMMUNICATION SYSTEM IN PRACTICAL TESTING
Increased safety and efficiency in pipejacking were VMT’s two key goals for the development of the new TunnelHub communication platform. The performance and practical suitability of the system have been demonstrated on a tunnelling project in Verden, Germany. By Artur zu Eulenburg
Only one single data cable and a small smart box every 50m: Florian Klatt shows how little space the new technology requires in the tunnel. PHOTO CREDIT: B_I/ZU EULENBURG
Ralph Küsters, who is responsible, among other duties, for Energy Operations at the internationally- active Italian tunnelling company
I.CO.P. S.p.A., has implemented numerous long-distance pipejacking drives worldwide.
I.CO.P. has worked with VMT’s Joblight
communication and lighting system, the predecessor of TunnelHub, for many years. Küsters describes the essential importance of this technology for occupational safety, environmental protection, and operational reliability, such as for a pipeline project in North America. There, Joblight was a prerequisite for the use of the Direct Pipe method, as uninterrupted communication with personnel underground created the safety conditions required for entering the tunnel, for example for control surveys. “Joblight made it possible to enter these tunnels in the first place,” says Küsters. “It was this technology
36 | March 2026
used on a larger scale for the first time in diameters that were previously classified as inaccessible for safety reasons, that enabled us after all to construct several major crossings using the Direct Pipe method.”
TUNNELHUB’S CONSTRUCTION SITE DEBUT: VERDEN, GERMANY A seamlessly functioning tunnel communication system, as a central element of a modern health and safety concept, also played a role in the tender evaluation for a pipejacking project in Verden, Germany, according to
I.CO.P. The Südlink power line crosses the River Aller at
this location. Grid operator TenneT awarded
I.CO.P the microtunnelling contract. Two tunnels with an internal diameter of 2m and a length of 1.1km each were to be constructed. Both tunnels run parallel to each other at a short distance apart. Each was
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