A large exhibit from Metro de Madrid will greet visitors and delegates to the Underground Construction exhibition at ExCeL, reflecting a large representation from Spain at the event. Not only is Spain’s capital city, like many others around the world, benefiting from a large underground railway construction programme, but tunnellers associated with the various contracts have a reputation as the fastest and most economical in the world, despite generally unfavourable ground conditions.
Parallels with the situation in the host city have been inevitable, both in terms of the Jubilee Line Extension Project record, and the current political wrangling about how vital maintenance and improvement of the existing network is to be financed.
The Metro de Madrid exhibit will present the construction achievements and record over the four years from 1996, and there will be a parallel presentation in a new showcase theatre.
Luis Eduardo Cortés Muñoz, vice-president of the Madrid Government, will be making the keynote presentation and Sir Julius Wernher Memorial Lecture to the Underground Construction symposium. He will open the conference together with Jane Plant, president of the UK’s Institution of Mining & Metallurgy. This is to be followed by a tour of the exhibition by UK and international VIPs.
Metro construction
Vice-president Cortés has been commissioner of public works in Madrid since 1996 and has been one of the moving forces behind the dramatic metro construction projects. The four year construction period under his direction saw a total of 35km of underground metro tunnels, and 33 stations were designed on ‘fast track’, constructed and commissioned, together with 20km of surface line including another four stations. In emulation of this performance the 43km long Metrosur underground circle line is currently in construction south of Madrid, adding another 26 stations to the network.
Subjects of the symposium, presented in three parallel but interdisciplinary programme streams, range from tunnelling innovation through safety and risk management to pile behaviour, specification and testing. There will be 80 presentations submitted from 15 countries (see programme) covering pipe jacking and piling as well as tunnelling.
Papers co-ordinator Peter Jewell, of the British Tunnelling Society and Brown & Root, commented: "This is the most comprehensive conference we’ve had in living memory in terms of culturing understanding within the industry. It is widespread here because, traditionally, this type of conference is narrowed into categories; instead, here the understanding is brought together."
He continued: "We are very pleased by the response and quality of papers, which range from innovation on a small scale to reports on large scale projects."
In addition to a wide range of case histories, the programme has a strong emphasis on risk management matters, whether regarding safety during construction or the prevention of collateral damage.
Overseas reports
Case histories include reports from Egypt, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey as well as the UK. The paper from Turkey looks at the problems of tunnelling in complex ground conditions at Bolu and reveals how these difficulties were overcome. Several papers cover tunnelling for utilities including particular factors such as the mitigation of disruption in streets. Papers include one on the Kentish Town cable tunnel in north London, demonstrating how the contractor’s innovative ideas minimise the environmental impact of tunnel construction.
Following several years of worryingly decreasing interest, the UK-based International Tunnelling Exhibition has gained a new lease of life by its incorporation into the new Underground Construction event, and a move to a brand new purpose-built events centre of ExCeL in London Docklands. As conference chairman Dave Hindle, London Mining & Mineral Consultants, commented: "We look forward to welcoming you to ExCeL, a prestigious and state-of-the-art international events centre for what will be the biggest and best exhibition and conference in the series to date."
Over 90 companies will be represented at the exhibition, including all the ‘big names’ listed on p17, and, of course, Tunnels & Tunnelling International.
Underground Construction 2001 is organised by Brintex on behalf of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, the British Tunnelling Society, the Federation of Piling Specialists and the Pipe Jacking Association.
