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London Tideway Tunnel now in operation


Porr progress on power plant conversion GERMANY - Porr has completed a key section of the access tunnel for the Rudolf Fettweis power plant conversion in Germany. The run-of-river power plant was


commissioned in 1914 and is being changed to pumped storage. The access tunnel recently completed


passes under Highway 462 then divides into a further stretch of access tunnel and toward plus a cavern and energy discharge tunnel. The total excavated length of the project is around 5.3km, of which around 4.7km is tunnels. The power plant cavern (123m long


x 20m x 42m, LxWxH) calls for around 400,000m3


Above: First TBM launch on London Tideway Tunnel was in 2018. Tunneling was completed in 2022, secondary lining finished in 2023, and first sites are in operation PHOTO CREDIT: LONDON TIDEWAY


UK - London’s super sewer, the London Tideway Tunnel, was recently brought into operation at four sites, about a year after secondary lining was completed. The rest of the valves at the


other 17 sites in the system are due to come online over the next few months to enable the sewer to be fully operational in 2025. Thames Water will then operate the system as part of its London wastewater network. Tideway CEO Andy Mitchell said:


“These are early days, with more connections to make and further testing to come, but the super sewer’s positive influence on the health of the Thames will increase over the coming months – and London will soon be home to the cleaner, healthier river it deserves.” In May, the 25km-long sewer was


connected to the 6.9km-long Lee Tunnel – completing the full London Tideway Tunnel network, which has a combined capacity of 1.6 million m3


. Once fully operational, it should


virtually eliminate the harmful effects of sewage pollution in the Thames through central London. Work on the project began in


2016 – with activity taking place at 24 construction sites from Acton in west London to Abbey Mills


Pumping Station in Stratford, east London. More than 20 deep shafts were


constructed across London to divert sewage flows and to lower TBMs to bore the tunnel. The first machine was launched in 2018, and tunneling on the main tunnel and two smaller connection tunnels achieved full completion in 2022. Secondary lining was completed in late 2023. The project is being delivered by


three consortia: a JV of BAM Nuttall, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure and Balfour Beatty on the west region; Ferrovial Agroman UK and Laing O’Rourke on the central region; and, the team of Costain, Vinci Construction Grands Projets and Bachy Soletanche is working on the east section. System integration is being


delivered by Amey, which is responsible for providing process control, communication equipment and software systems for operation, maintenance and reporting. Thames Water CEO Chris Weston


said: “The Thames Tideway Tunnel, a £4.5bn investment made by our customers, is nearing completion. We are already seeing the benefits of our £700m investment in Lee Tunnel in 2016, and the Channelsea River and River Lea now have ‘good to excellent’ water quality.”


of excavation, of which half is


intended for water storage in the main and secondary tunnels. Construction works are to finish in 2027. Porr is responsible for the of construction


of mined caverns, water reservoirs and tunnels, the shell of the power plant cavern, construction of two pressure shafts, and foundation engineering work.


Delhi breakthrough on Golden Line INDIA - The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has achieved a major milestone on its Phase 4 expansion with the completion of the TBM tunnel drive between Chhatarpur and Chhatarpur Mandir station on the Tughlakabad-Aerocity corridor of the Golden Line. The EPBM broke through at Chhatarpur


Mandir station after boring an 865m-long tunnel. Twin tunnels are being constructed with the second machine following at due to achieve breakthrough soon after the first completed its drive at the station. The new tunnel has been constructed at


an average depth of approximately 15m and involved erecting 618 rings to create that section of the 5.8m-i.d. tunnel. The tunneling work involved several


challenges, such as shifting a 66KV electrical HT line, and the TBM had to pass under a viaduct without disrupting metro train operations on the Yellow Line. Part of Delhi Metro’s Phase 4 expansion,


the 24km Golden Line will have 15 stations and connect southern Delhi directly with the Indira Gandhi International Airport. As part of the Phase 4 work approved so


far, 40.1km of underground lines are being constructed. Delhi Metro is India’s largest rapid transport system.


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