Page 3 - TunnelTalk Annual Review 2012

Welcome to a preview of the digital edition of the TunnelTalk Annual Review 2012 which allows you free access to the first few pages of the issue as a trial.
Each of the articles in the Annual Review has been published first on www.TunnelTalk.com, the leading online magazine for the global underground construction industry.
All the articles are hotlinked to the TunnelTalk online Archive allowing for direct, free access to the full coverage and a wealth of additional information. All advertisements are also hotlinked directly to the advertiser’s website. All featured videos are linked to the TunnelTalk YouTube channel.
Please see the final page of this preview for information on how to purchase full versions of each digital issue of the Annual Review since 2010, allowing you to build a historic reference of the international tunnelling industry.
Annual Review 2012
As the global construction sector in general came under pressure in 2012, tunnelling and underground projects continued to buck the trend. In fact, the volume of tunnelling and underground space being planned, designed and constructed across the globe during the year was of a scale to break all records. Despite major contractions in public spending to balance over-stretched national budgets, investment in tunnelling and underground space excavation projects, as a percentage of GDP investments in public infrastructure, was at its highest.
High-speed rail, flood control, metro systems, water supply, environmental protection, international transportation links, preparing for major global sporting events, reserving surface space to preserve the quality of life - all are drivers of the record breaking demand in tunnelling. Crossover into associated industries is also creating demand. Development of new underground mining operations, links to offshore oil and gas fields, power cable conduits, the development of new nuclear power stations, underground repositories for nuclear waste and nuclear physics experimentation - these too are placing demands on the civil tunnelling design, equipment manufacturing, construction, and materials production and supply sectors of the industry.
News stories and editorial coverage all the above applications of civil tunnelling expertise were published on the TunnelTalk website during the course of 2012. They are reproduced here as a printed publication of the year’s activities and achievements. The first two articles in Volume 3 of our Annual Review report major studies by international analysts that confirm the global trend towards an increase in the development of underground space projects.
As well as covering major events in the industry, TunnelTalk has also progressed the promotion of education and training courses and academies around the world that encourage the next generation of new recruits in the engineering and tunnelling crews. Together with written articles, our TunnelCast video reports have provided a platform on which senior engineers and new recruits on projects around the world have spoken directly about their interest in tunnelling and the rewarding career it offers.
The fast-growing readership of our free and open-access TunnelTalk.com website confirms further the growth in interest and international demand for information and news about the industry. In 2012, hits on TunnelTalk topped more than 1.5 million/month, and a total of more than 13.7 million for the year. Readers and visits to the site increased to more than 56,000/ month, with more than 27,000 of these registered as unique returning readers.
The TunnelTalk social media accounts also proved popular. In January 2013, we received a message from LinkedIn that had us celebrating - in 2012, TunnelTalk was among the top 5% most viewed LinkedIn accounts for the year. The value of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and our YouTube channel of video productions are powerful instruments for spreading news and keeping the global community connected and informed.
Through 2013 TunnelTalk will continue its dedicated coverage of the international tunnelling industry, expanding its coverage to include more technical development articles, under the new TunnelTech section, and developing its Equipment Sales, Procurement, Job Opportunities, Directory and Diary Dates services. Keep us on your RSS feed, join our free weekly content Alert e-mail distribution list, harness the power of the internet to drive traffic to your website via your advertisement campaigns on TunnelTalk, and continue to enjoy free and open access to our growing Archive of information about this exciting and demanding industry. n
PUBLISHER & EDITOR
Shani Wallis
ADVERTISING INTERNATIONAL
Binda Punj
ADVERTISING NORTH AMERICA
Judy Green
Direct by Design
DESIGN & PRODUCTION
Claire Hunt
ONLINE EDITOR & REPORTER
Peter Kenyon
NEwS BRIEFS EDITOR & REPORTER
Armand van Wijck
VOLUME 3 Order extra copies of the 2010, 2011 and 2012 issues online www.TunnelTalk.com ContactUs@TunnelTalk.com
Copyright© TunnelTalk 2013. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. All views expressed in this journal are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily the opinions of the publisher, neither do the publishers endorse any of the claims made in the articles oUr tnhedadevregrtisreomuentsd. PriintedAbcytBiouxnton Press Ltd, UK.
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
5 Examining underground contributions to global activity
MEGA PROJECTS
7 Extreme tunnel planned for Andes rail link
8 Prequalifiers called for Fehmarn sea link
9 Long-distance undersea highway for Norway
10 TBMs to excavate Norway’s Oslo-Ski Folio Line
12 CrossingtheHimalayasbyrail
13 UK moves forward with high speed rail development
14 Funding boost for Northern Line extension
15 California secures funding for high speed rail
16 SupportforCalifornia’smegawaterdeliveryproject
PLANNED PROJECTS
18 Ireland preparing a design-build 9km sea outfall
18 Immersed tube metro plans for Holland’s Lake IJmeer 18 Europe hydro vision needs 165km of tunnels
20 Middle East plans for Riyadh and Doha Metros
22 UndergroundelementsinSydney’stransportationvision
PROJECT PROGRESS
24 TBMlaunchesandSCLbeginningsforCrossrail 26 London Lee Tunnel TBM drive underway
28 First TBM delivered for Koralm Alpine project 28 Megalots for Italian coastal highway
29 Sochi winning on the Olympics alpine route 30 Building Holland’s first double-deck tunnel 32 Air traffic demanded innovation near Schipol 32 Court seals Italian highway deal
33 Giant Sparvo EPBM completes first drive 35 Iceland progresses road tunnel plans
35 Norway awards road and rail upgrades 36 Gdansk river crossing
36 Slurry TBM arrives for Irish gas project
36 Hamburg drives for particle experiments
38 All STEP tunnels underway in Abu Dhabi
39 TBMs set for Malaysia challenge
40 Singapore begins its cable connections
40 Deep level drive in Mumbai
42 Mountain headings for water supply in Malaysia
44 China opens longest high-speed railway
45 FourTBMsanddrill+blastforhighaltitudeAndeanhydro 46 Chilean mines invest in underground expansion
46 FreshEIArequiredtoallowColombiatunneltoprogress 47 Argentina and Brazil prepare for long TBM drives
50 First TBM launch on Panama metro drive
50 TBM completes Mexico City Metro drive
51 Brazil ore-port drives
52 First drive through for Miami Port link
54 East Side Access advance
55 EPBMs and SEM under San Francisco
56 Seattle sewer upgrades
56 DC water tunnel pushing progress
57 Progress and plans for Toronto transit
58 Financial close seals Midtown Tunnel start
58 Ottawa awards Confederation Line
59 Seattle U-Link achievements and LRT extensions
TBM RECORDER
62 Mega Seattle TBM tested in Japan
64 Russia invests in metro extensions
64 Innovative TBM powers through French mountains
66 EPBMs manage mixed ground in Nanjing
66 Six Robbins EPBMs set in Singapore
67 First of four Seli EPBMs ready for Copenhagen
68 Progress at Kishanganga, Hong Kong and Rome
69 Terratec rolls out TBMs for Bangkok and Delhi Metros 70 Double shield taking on tough work in Turkey
70 Design changes help secure project success
71 Brisbane advances its next vital traffic link
72 Mobilizing for the deep rock connector
73 Beijing completes underwater metro drive
74 High-power TBMs for Texas water line
74 MicromachinepowersSwissdriveforrenewableenergy 75 State visits for the tunnelling industry
DISCUSSION FORUM
76 Winning back trust in the Amsterdam Metro
77 Rekindled NATM SEM SCL debate
79 Superstorm devastation
80 Expert witnesses and forensic consultants
81 NEw PRODUCTS AND INNOVATIONS
84 SAFETY
87 CONFERENCES
92 EDUCATION AND TRAINING 95 HONOURS AND TRIBUTES
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