NEWS |
HS2’s Bromford Tunnel portal completed
A TBM final finish at Eglinton CANADA – One of two twin TBMs digging the western underground segment of Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown West Extension has achieved the final breakthrough on its drives. The 750-tonne, 131m-long TBM – ‘Rexy’
– completed the journey at the Scarlett Road extraction shaft, where both TBMs will be disassembled and removed from the ground. The machine spent the past two years
digging one of two 6.3km-long tunnels that stretches from Renforth Drive to Scarlett Road, where the future line will come to the surface and transition to an above ground section. The 9.2km-long Eglinton Crosstown
Above: HS2’s Bromford Tunnel sees west portal work finish at Washwood Heath PHOTO CREDIT: HS2
UK – Work for HS2’s 5.6km-long Bromford Tunnel has progressed with excavation complete for its 22m-deep west portal at Washwood Heath. The Washwood Heath portal
is ready to receive the two TBMs currently driving twin-tubes from Water Orton, in North Warwickshire. Construction work at the
portal took nine months and was undertaken by a team of 130 people from Balfour Beatty Vinci (BBV). Washwood Heath portal is the
deepest of four tunnel portals on the Midlands section of the HS2 route. A two-year programme of ground reinforcement works, delivered by the Bachy Soletanche and Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering joint venture (SB3), began in November 2021 to prepare for excavation the portal. BBV project manager Tim Cook
said completing the 22m-deep Bromford Tunnel portal was a significant moment for the project. “The team is now focused on the
next challenge on this vast site – a 750m-long cut and cover structure next to the portal,” he said. The cut and cover box structure is
currently being excavated and built by SB3. From here, HS2 trains will emerge from the tunnel and travel by viaduct to Birmingham’s Curzon
8 | July 2024
Street Station. The first TBM due to break
through the portal wall at Washwood Heath is ‘Mary Ann’, which was launched from Water Orton in 2023. It is expected to arrive by the end of this year. Its sister TBM, ‘Elizabeth’, is due at the portal to finish her drive by Q3- 2025. Groundwork specialists from
Coventry-based Duo Group supported BBV with the complex excavation programme at the portal to extract 53,400m3
of earth. The
spoil has been transported on specially built haul roads to support construction of the Delta Junction – a triangular section of 13 viaducts in North Warwickshire. At 65ha, Washwood Heath is one
of HS2’s largest construction sites. More than one million m3
of earth
has been excavated and reused to level the ground, paving the way for detailed design and construction of the new maintenance depot and control centre to start next year. Here, trains will be serviced and stored and the real-time operation of the railway will be controlled. By recycling and reusing material
on the site, BBV has eliminated the need to import aggregate, a strategy which has avoided over 50,000 lorry movements on local roads.
West Extension will bring the future Eglinton Crosstown LRT service farther west through York, Etobicoke, and into Mississauga. The project includes seven new stations. Rexy’s sister TBM – ‘Renny’ – has been
following a short distance behind. West End Connectors, a consortium of
Aecon, Dragados and Ghella, was awarded the Advance Tunnel contract in 2021 and launched the two TBMs in 2022. Meanwhile work will continue at the
extraction shaft to lay the foundations and form the structure of the future tunnel portal. Work has also started to prepare
construction sites for the eastern underground segment of the line that will run from east of Jane Street to Mount Dennis Station. In February 2024, Strabag was awarded
the Advance Tunnel 2 contract to design, build and finance this section. The contract includes a 500m-long tunnel from east of Jane Street to Mount Dennis Station.
Fehmarnbelt fatality GERMANY – A worker died after an excavator shovel accident at the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel project on 29 April. Project developer Femern A/S said the
41-year-old Polish construction worker suffered a head injury from the accident, which happened in the portal area of the construction site in Puttgarden, Germany. Drainage work is underway at the location for the immersed tube tunnel that is to link Germany and Denmark. Emergency services responded
immediately but the man died at the scene. German safety authorities are investigating the fatal accident, and so also are the construction companies involved.
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