By rosebell
Using the conventional method the work was undergoing on 14 faces of the the Mont Cenis base tunnel and a quarter of the 164km of tunnels have been excavated, as Tunnel Euralpin Lyon-Turin (TELT) said.
While the excavation process at Saint-Julien-Montdenis advanced by 213m in November and reached a total of more than 2,560m on the two tubes from the entrance,tunneling with explosives continues on the two fronts from the west entrance of the base tunnel.
Additionally, digging is continuing in the sixth bypass, which has reached a length of more than 41m.
Being assembled in the Saint-Martin-la Porte cavern, the TBM is due to dig the 9km base tunnel parallel to the one already built by the TBM Federica. Moreover, underground excavation between Saint-Martin-la-Porte and La Praz is progressing on the technical and logistical caverns and some sections of the base tunnel towards both Lyon and Turin.
Benefiting a robot applying the concrete lining, the construction of the base tunnel ventilation shafts continues on the Avrieux platform, whereas this innovative system secures cavities at a depth of 350m without direct human intervention. As the first shaft consolidated that includes installing the sarcophagus tool to form a metal ring around the walls and make the cavities to be filled in completely, currently the robot is tackling the second shaft.
Work on the Lyon-Turin railway is also continuing above ground.
On December 10, the laying of the railway viaduct over the Arvan River commenced in France. As part of the works for the railway interconnection, the viaduct in the plain of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne is the historic line managed under delegated contract by SNCF Réseau and it is going to allow for a change to seven tracks, compared to the current two.
The process of managing the excavated material are under construction, whereas the material treatment plant in Saint-Julien-Montdenis is being assembled next to the railway junction. Also in order to transporting materials between excavation sites, processing sites and storage sites, the 5km of conveyor belts are being installed.
With the aim of being used to move vehicles from the construction site of the base tunnel and avoiding impacting local traffic,the installation of the first ramp of the new Chiomonte motorway interchange on the A32 motorway is being completed in Italy.
As a place that the new car and truck terminal is being built to replace the one in Susa, at San Didero the structural element that overlays the A32 motorway was laid at the beginning of December. For connecting to the car and truck terminal where trucks can stop and refuel before the ascent to the Fréjus tunnel, now both ramps will have to be connected to the motorway route.
The project will be the focus for the British Tunnelling Society’s evening lecture on January 16.
