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the country’s first underground railway. The US$3.2bn project will connect Britomart and Mount Eden Station on the Western Line with 3.45km of tunnels under central Auckland.
ITA reveals 2021 Tunnelling Awards shortlist SWITZERLAND - ITA has announced the finalists of the seventh edition of the ITA Tunnelling Awards 2021 which aim to recognise the best and most innovative tunnelling projects worldwide. The seven award categories are as follows:
● Major Project of the Year (with a budget over €500)
● Project of the Year (with a budget between €50 and €500m)
● Project of the Year incl. Renovation (with a budget up to €50m)
● Technical Innovation of the Year ● Beyond Engineering ● Innovative and Contributing Underground Spaces
● Young Tunneller of the Year. This seventh edition of the Awards follows
on from the six previous instances, five of which were held as in-person events in Switzerland, Singapore, France, China and the US. This year, as in 2020, for reasons of safety and in accordance with pandemic restrictions, the awards will be presented in an online presentation that will take place sometime near the end of November (exact date to be confirmed). ITA said the winners will be celebrated on 2 December 2021.
Musk gets approval for massive tunnel expansion across Las Vegas US - Elon Musk’s Boring Company has been granted a 50-year franchise approval from Clark County to build and operate a 46km network of tunnels for housing a monorail transportation system beneath Las Vegas, US. The ‘Vegas Loop’ go-ahead follows Musk’s two previous short tunnels which opened earlier this year and run beneath the Las Vegas Convention Centre. Musk can now advance his Loop proposals
which will see tunnels connecting 51 stations at locations across the city, including casinos, the city football stadium, UNLV and the airport. One casino owner described the development as “the best thing to happen to Las Vegas”. The approval granted is for a dual-loop
alignment only and will mean each of the planned 51 stations will require to go through a separate land permit and approvals process. Clark County said the network will
be constructed without public money and could handle up to 57,000 passengers per hour. It was reported that Musk will pay for the tunnelling costs but the construction of individual stations will be paid for by casino owners and other relevant beneficiaries.
Tunnelling fraternity mourns passing of Paul Marinos GREECE - Greece and the international tunnelling and geotechnical communities are mourning Prof Dr Paul (Pavlos) Marinos who died on 10 October in Athens. Marinos was an internationally-renowned
figure in engineering geology and rock mechanics, lecturer, researcher and independent consulting engineer, fellow of the Geological Society, London, and past president of The International Association of Engineering Geology. He was also president of the Greek Tunnelling Society and president of the Geological Society of Greece, as well as a member of ITA. He worked as Professor of Engineering
Geology at the National Technical University of Athens for many years, serving as head of the geotechnical department. He was also director of the graduate course in tunnelling and underground construction from 2001-2004 and 2006-2008. As well as being a visiting professor to the geology departments of several European universities, he wrote numerous technical papers, particularly with Hoek on predicting tunnel squeezing problems in weak heterogeneous rock masses; he later undertook work on anisotropic flysch. In 2013, he was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French government.
New resource aims to inspire young people into engineering UK - Not-for-profit organisation Engineering UK has launched an attractive and informative PowerPoint presentation on the Tomorrow’s Engineers website that is designed to encourage 14-19-year-olds to consider a career in one of the many subject areas of the engineering sector. Society needs more engineers and
more diversity in engineering – nationally and internationally. Not just in tunnelling and infrastructure but in every branch of engineering. In some sectors the situation is getting critical for lack of available candidates. Entitled ‘Engineer Your Future’, the new
33-slide PowerPoint (PP) is ‘designed for use by anyone wanting to inspire and inform young people about a career in engineering’.
From the T&TI archives... 1999 The 110m2
Work begins on Tai Lam Tunnel November
The Nishimatsu/Dragages JV has begun drill and blast operations from both portals of the 5.5km-long Tai Lam Tunnel for the Kowloon- Canton Railway Corporation West Rail Phase 1 project in Hong Kong. The US$240m design and construct contract involves Dragages et Travaux Publics (HK) advancing from the north and Nishimatsu Construction Co advancing from the south.
cross-section tunnel has
been designed by the JV as a single- tube tunnel with a central dividing wall separating twin rail tracks, as opposed to the provisional design concept of twin bores.
2001
T5 green lights tunnels for London December
UK transport secretary, Stephen Byers has given the green light to the US$3.5bn Heathrow Airport Terminal Five project. The scheme will include an extension to London Underground’s Piccadilly Line and the Heathrow Express line to the terminal totalling 14km of tunnels. Construction is due to start in the middle of next year with the terminal expected to be operational in 2007.
2008
Hai Van rail bore plan May
Vietnam Railway Corporation (VRC) plans to build a US$200m tunnel through the Hai Van Pass in the middle of the country as part of its five-year investment plan.
The rail company wants to build a 10km-long twin-bore tunnel through the pass to cut journey times by two hours.
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