By Ashley Karen
A new Hydrofraise model will shortly arrive in Singapore for work on the Cross Island Line 1 project.
The consortium of Soletanche Bachy International, Bachy Soletanche Singapore, Gammon, and Bessac will use the HF8c for building the diaphragm wall to make the main enclosure and entrances for the future Ang Mo Kio metro station. As reported, the wall will be 1000mm and 1200mm thick and have a max depth of 60m.
The HF8c can advance to depths of up to 90m while keeping its footprint small, so it is conformed to the constrained site in the heart of Singapore in a dense urban environment.
Soletanche Bachy asserts that the machine’s grippers mean it has adequate thrust to drill the hard ground typical of Singapore, like the granite of Bukit Timah.
It is claimed that disassembling the 180-tonne HF8c into its 4,400 unique parts before it was shipped from Antwerp, Belgium, took two weeks.
It is worth mentioning that a Hydrofraise HC05 will also be used in the project.
The consortium was granted the CR116 contract in July 2021. The works incorporate delivery of the station, located in the heart of the densely populated Ang Mo Kio district, plus its six entrances, two underpasses constructed employing pipe jacking, and two tunnels, with a combined length of 1.2km, excavated by a 7m diameter tunnel boring machine.
