| NEWS


London may extend DLR UK – Transport for London (TfL) and its partners have submitted a Strategic Outline Case (SOC) to the Government to extend the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), with a potential new branch under the River Thames. The proposed DLR extension would


link Gallions Reach in east London to Thamesmead on the south side of the river, in south east London. The link would be via Beckton Riverside as part of plans for new transport links, homes and regeneration on the north side of the river. Thamesmead and Beckton Riverside are the heart of London’s major growth areas and are a priority for regeneration and economic development. TfL is working with Greenwich and


Newham councils and three landowners – Thamesmead Waterfront (a Peabody and Lendlease joint venture), abrdn (formerly Aberdeen Standard Investments) and St William (a Berkeley Group company) – to develop the plans. TfL says there has been continuous engagement with Homes England, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department for Transport. The DLR extension to Thamesmead


would build on experience from 2009 when the network was extended to Woolwich Arsenal, and which also included tunnelling under the Thames. While a key part of this work will be to


identify options for maximising local and regional funding, as well as driving cost and creating efficiencies, the scale of the projects mean some government support will be required. To date, funding for the feasibility work has been provided by private and public sector bodies with an interest in regenerating the area. The SOC reflects this work and the scale of opportunity at Thamesmead and Beckton Riverside. A further £6m is being raised by TfL and


the Greater London Authority (GLA) as well as other partners. The aim is to agree an affordable solution


by 2025 with a construction start in 2028 for the DLR extension to open in the early 2030s.


TBM milestone in Seattle US – TBM ‘MudHoney’ recently achieved breakthrough on Seattle’s Ship Canal Water Quality Project, completing excavation of the storage tunnel. The Herrenknecht EPBM tunnelled


4.25km from Ballard to Wallingford, where it emerged in a flooded shaft. Once ‘MudHoney’ installed the last few tunnel segments the procedure to find had the shaft emptied and then dismantling.


Five shafts at Ballard, East Ballard,


Fremont, Queen Anne, and Wallingford will collect stormwater and sewage flows from each basin. Earlier this year, another Herrenknecht


machine completed a 2.4m i.d. conveyance tunnel between Freemont and Queen Anne shafts. For breakthrough, concrete was injected around the shaft to prevent the flow of groundwater. However, for the larger TBM ‘MudHoney’ there was limited working space which led to flooding the shaft to be selected as a better solution. Excavation of a second conveyance


tunnel is due to start later this year. The project is being developed by Seattle


Public Utilities and King County Wastewater Treatment Division. It is designed to stop 284 million litres of stormwater and sewage flowing into the Lake Washington Ship Canal, Salmon Bay, and Lake Union each year. During a heavy storm, the new tunnel will capture and temporarily store more than 110 million litres of untreated stormwater and sewage until the treatment plant can receive the flow.


Veidekke wins more in Oslo NORWAY – Veidekke has been awarded the tunnelling and foundation work contract for the Majorstuen-Skøyen section of Oslo’s new Fornebu metro line. The contract value is estimated at just


under NOK1.4bn (US$138.8m). Construction on the Majorstuen-Skøyen


section of the metro is due to start around September and is scheduled for completion in Q1 2027. The works include tunnelling and foundation work on the stretch from Volvat to Skøyen station, and an access tunnel to Madserud. Veidekke is currently working on the


Lysaker-Vækerø section of Fornebu metro, which it won in April 2022. The new 8.2km-long Fornebu Line will


have six stations (Skøyen, Vækerø, Lysaker, Telenor Arena, Flytårnet, and Fornebu Senter), and connect to Oslo at Majorstuen. Design consultant is a JV of Cowi and Multiconsult.


Strata, Binni enter partnership US – Strata Worldwide has announced a new global partnership agreement with tunnelling software developer Binni. Under the partnership Strata will bring


Binni’s cloud-based software platform for tunnel contractors to the global tunnelling market under the brand name TunnelLINK – an integrated platform for collaboration throughout a tunnelling project. TunnelLINK is designed to simplify reporting of TBM operations while


combining and visualising relevant sensor and instrumentation data for informed, real-time analysis. As a web-based productivity tool for


access via smart device, it can manage data from multiple sources and bring it together into customisable dashboards. The software can used in existing or upcoming projects.


Recycled glass in concrete R&D AUSTRALIA – Use of crushed glass in structural concrete has been tested at the new State Library station on Melbourne’s metro tunnel project by a research collaboration of the University of Melbourne and industry partners. The trial showed than recycled crushed


glass can replace 25% of virgin sand in the concrete mix. The structural concrete was used for temporary suspended concrete slabs and produced a concrete mix of equal strength and quality to traditional concrete. Cross Yarra Partnership, which is


completing the tunnels and stations contract, says it is considering further trials at the University of Melbourne – with the potential to increase replacing 25% to 80% of virgin sand with crushed glass. The consortium comprises Lendlease Engineering, John Holland Bouygues Construction and Capella Capital. The research is part of the metro project’s


sustainability commitment. According to a video on the project website, by using recycled industrial by-products instead of cement, the project has reduced its cement use by more than 50%.


S Korea undersea tunnel project SOUTH KOREA – Construction company DL E&C won the design and build contract for the 5.76km-long Namhae-Yeosu Undersea Tunnel Project. The initial plan for a unidirectional


southbound route, linking Shindeok-dong in Yeosu to Seosang-ri in Namhae, was changed to DL E&C’s proposed a divergence tunnel to connect the north-western region of Namhae to the existing infrastructure. The undersea tunnel is part of the Seo-


myeon Namhae–Shindeok Yeosu National Road Project – a new 8.09km four-lane highway connecting Shindeok-dong in Yeosu and Seomyeon in Namhae on the country’s southern coast. The total project value is US$540m. DL E&C says technological developments


are opening up the possibility of undersea tunnels connecting Korea to Japan and China.


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