| NEWS
Snowy 2.0 sees progress, cost reassessment
HCC wins 2 contract on Patna Metro, Ph1 INDIA - Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (HCC) has been awarded two tunnelling contracts for Phase I of the Patna Metro Rail project. The contracts involve the construction of
10.67km of underground tunnels using TBMs and six metro stations. Package PC-05, valued at US$159 million,
includes the design and construction of twin tunnels using a shield TBM, a cut- and-cover tunnel, an underground ramp at Mithapur, and the following three metro stations: Vikas Bhawan, Vidyut Bhawan and Patna Station. The other contract, Package PC-06, is
Above: As Snowy Hydro orders a cost reassessment of Snowy 2.0, the project’s fourth TBM is being delivered to the Marica work site
AUSTRALIA - Energy utility Snowy Hydro has directed the Snowy 2.0 project’s principal contractor, Future Generation Joint Venture (FGJV), to undertake a comprehensive line-by-line reassessment of its costs to deliver the pumped storage hydropower project. Snowy 2.0 PS project is two-
thirds completed and remains set to finish at the end of 2028. The developer believes various cost pressures call for the reassessment. It hired independent construction cost experts to assist in a process that could take up to nine months. As the reassessment got
underway the fourth TBM for the project, TBM ‘Monica’, was being transported to the Marica work site from Herrenknecht’s Guangzhou factory, in China. The 12m-diameter TBM is being transported in more than 140 loads. The TBM will bore a 5km-long
tunnel through complex geology, known as the Long Plain Fault Zone, deep in the Snowy Mountains for the hydro project. The tunnel will eventually connect Tantangara reservoir with the PS plant built almost 1km underground. Other recent progress on the
project has seen good advance made on the 1.22km-long inclined pressure shaft, being bored upwards by TBM ‘Kirsten’. The shaft will connect to headrace
the underground power station to the headrace tunnel. However, the tunnelling has been challenging, notes the contractor. FGJV construction manager
Varun Tyagi said there were various challenges and innovations involved with tunnelling the inclined pressure shaft: the slope; segmental lining; grouting operations; using MSVs with the rack and pinion system; and, the monorail on the slope, for transporting people. He said the Force Activated
Coupling System (FACS) segments – said to be a world first – have been designed to withstand the extreme water pressure when the powerhouse is operating. Snowy 2.0 has made good
progress since the 2023 project reset, said Snowy Hydro’s CEO Dennis Barnes. “Despite disruption, including
work stoppages due to safety concerns and continuing challenges with geology, we’ve been able to recover that time and get us to where we need to be in terms of schedule,” he said. “The reset was about getting
Snowy 2.0 moving again by creating a more collaborative relationship with the principal contractor and achieving safe progress. We’ve done both, but the productivity uplift hasn’t been to the degree we needed.”
valued at US$129 million and main works comprise construction of an underground ramp at Rukanpura as well as three metro stations: Rukanpura, Raja Bazar and Patna Zoo. Both contract packages also include
architectural finishing, water supply systems, and sanitary and drainage works for stations along the Danapur–Khemnichak Corridor. The two contracts add to the metro
tunnelling works that HCC is already undertaking in India, including on Mumbai Metro Line III (involves 4km of twin tunnels and four stations); Indore Metro Phase 1 (includes 5.66km of twin tunnels by TBM and seven underground stations); and, two packages for the Chennai Metro.
Veidekke to build West Link subproject SWEDEN - The Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) has commissioned contractor Veidekke to build the Stora Hamnkanalen tunnel, part of the Västlänken, or West Link Project, in central Gothenburg. The contract comprises the construction
of a concrete and rock tunnel, which will pass beneath Stora Hamnkanalen close to the canal’s Göta älv outlet. Work on the project is expected to be
completed in mid-2029. The full West Link double-track rail
project will extend for 8km, with 6km of the route underground. It includes three new underground stations – Gothenburg Central, Haga and Korsvägen. The Stora Hamnkanalen tunnel is the
fourth and final construction contract in the Haga stage of the project. Veidekke won the contract to build the
Haga–Otterhällan section of the West Link in 2024.
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