Not wanting to be the bearer of bad news, but July has so far proved a case of ‘another month, another tunnel disaster’. Just looking at the ‘stop press’ news on page 6 makes for some pretty depressing reading for those involved in the underground construction sector.
The most tragic by a long way, is the terrible news of the derailed train on Spain’s Valencia Metro that has claimed the lives of 41 passengers. Initial reports indicate driver error. The train was apparently travelling at 80km/h – twice the area’s speed limit – when it de-railed on a curve and hit a tunnel wall near Jesus Station. The scale of the driver’s error, if this is indeed the case, has lead to speculation that he must have either fainted, or been ‘otherwise disposed’ before the incident. Whatever the reasons, or whoever’s to blame, the magnitude of the tragedy remains, and for the people of Valencia it is one that will take a long time to get over.
More recently, a lady was killed whilst driving through the eastbound Interstate 90 connector tunnel on Boston’s Big Dig after a section of concrete fell from the tunnel ceiling and crushed her car. This is yet another blow for a project dogged by controversy, virtually from the start. This seems all the worse when you find out that five people were arrested recently for supplying sub-standard concrete to the project.
The couple of other tunnel fires we report on this month seem relatively minor by comparison, but none-the-less are all incidents that chip away at the credibility of tunnels as a viable alternative.
Although T&TI is very much a ‘builders’ publication, whether you are a contractor, consultant or manufacturer, these types of operational occurrences reflect very poorly on the end result – the tunnel. After all, the user doesn’t really care how it was made, just that it is there, and that it is safe.
In this issue we touch on some of the new technology available to assist tunnel builders in their everyday activities. But what is the use of engineers overcoming some truly staggering technical challenges if their achievements are only to be questioned later because of somebody else’s bad luck at best, or bad management at worse?
For the raft of health and safety regulations prevalent and enforced during tunnel construction, it seems that a far more rigorous approach to standards and regulations is needed during operation. At least this way we know that the care and attention to detail shown by civil engineers is continued long after they have moved on to their next project. Not only that, lives may well be saved too.
Tris Thomas
