Construction of the 1.8km long, twin-tube, bored section of the 3km Botlek Tunnel on The netherland’s Betuweroute freight rail line has reached half way. The 9.6m diameter Herrenknecht EPBM has finished boring the first tube and will now be dismantled and transported back to the start of the tunnel to begin boring the second tube in the middle of this year.
The contractor, BTC Botlek JV, began tunnelling in March 1999 and has averaged 10m of tunnel/day. The complete Botlek Tunnel consists of the bored section with access ramps on either side. The $244m tunnel is the first ever double-tracked rail tunnel to be bored in The Netherlands and is scheduled for completion in early 2002. Tunnelling activity on The netherlands’ West-East Betuweroute high-speed freight rail line also includes construction of the 7.9km long Sophia Tunnel (4km of which is in bored twin tubes); the 1.8km long bored Pannerdensch Tunnel; and the 1.5km long cut+cover Zevenaar Tunnel.
Provisional design+construct contracts were awarded for the Pannerdensch and Zevenaar tunnels at the end of 1999. Construction of the $154m Pannerdensch Tunnel was provisionally awarded to the COMOL consortium, consisting of Dumez GTM; Campenon Bernard; TBI Beton-en Waterbouw; Welling Didam; and CFE.
The $114.5m Zevenaar Tunnel contract has been provisionally awarded, subject to reservation, to the consortium BTC Gelderse Poorte, which consists of Ballast Nedam Beton en Waterbouw; Van Hattum en Blankevoorte; Hollandsche Beton-en Waterbouw; and Strukton Betonbouw. These awards follow the rejection of the original tenders on grounds of cost.
Contractor Tubecon 1 is gearing up to start boring the first of two 4km long tubes on the Sophia Tunnel. A Herrenknecht TBM is scheduled to go to the face and start boring in May this year.
The 20m deep starter shaft is almost complete and the TBM is currently in the process of being assembled and work on the receiver shaft at Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht is under way.
The complete tunnel consists of a 4km length of twin-tube bored tunnel with an open access ramp of 1.9km on one side and a closed access ramp of nearly 2km on the other.
