From the 9th
to the 15th of June, 2017, the International Tunnelling and Underground Space
Association (ITA-AITES) and the Norwegian Tunnelling Society will organize the
World Tunnel Congress (WTC) in Bergen, Norway, where the demanding landscapes of
mountains, fjords and islands inspired a very early utilisation of underground
space for transportation and energy generation and storage. As early as in
1909, the Bergen Railway linked the Norwegian west coast to eastern Norway
through 182 tunnels.
High on the agenda of the WTC event in
Bergen is the bringing together of stakeholders and highlighting the major
issues in tunnelling that are likely to dominate the next few years. The common
passion for “going underground” must be turned into a new means for global
responsibility. That is why this edition of WTC will be the occasion to
discover the latest state-of-the art innovations in urban planning and
underground construction projects in Norway and worldwide and will focus on ‘Surface Challenges, Underground Solutions’ of
which Norway’s technologies have set the example.
A dynamic and buoyant sector in a context of global economic decline:
Question 1: The upcoming World
Tunnelling Congress will be held on 9-15 June, in Bergen, Norway with the
ambitious theme of “Surface Challenges, Underground Solutions”. What are the main stakes
and expectations for this edition?
has reacted very well to initiatives by the
Government when adopting underground solutions to problems that had been
considered facts of life. A good example is the recent Porto Maravilha Project
in Rio de Janeiro. The construction of a tunnel made it possible to see again
the spectacular seafront view of the Guanabara bay and the Sugar Loaf from the
downtown region. The view had been hidden for decades due to the construction
of an elevated highway. As a consequence, a major rehabilitation program is
underway with major benefits for the real estate market and for the population.
In other cases, even more interesting, the people by themselves have taken the
initiative of finding underground solutions to upgrade their urban environment.
This was the case of the Boston Central Post Office Square. The growing
awareness has reflected in an increase of the demand for underground solutions.
Second, the use of new technologies has brought many advances for the
reliability and the decrease of construction time of underground works. Both
aspects will be covered in the technical sessions at the WTC 2017.
Question 2: 2016 was another very successful
year for the tunnelling industry. What can you expect for 2017? Are there already emerging trends for the
tunnelling industry?
Even during recent years when the global
economic scenario was not the best, the tunnelling industry was experiencing
some increase. This probably occurred because of the reasons shown in the
response to (your) the first question and to the backlog in infrastructure
which still exists in many countries. Now, there are indications that we are
approaching a period of significant increase for the industry. Per information
from one of our Prime Sponsors, new orders are increasing. The WTC event will
be the occasion to unveil a new survey on global tunneling market forecasts.
Tunnelling Industry and Climate change or how tunnelling can reduce
negative anthropic impacts:
Question
3: According to the NASA Global Ice Viewer website*, glaciers lost
approximately
400 billion tons of ice per year since 1994, with
the Artic recording an approximate decrease of its surface of 13% per decade… Climate
Change is now and the report is alarming. Sea level rise will impact mostly
urban areas. How can tunnelling and underground spaces development limit the
harm that could be inflicted on urban populations?
The most obvious way is by increasing the
capacity of stormwater conveyance tunnels, and by creating underground
reservoirs to store water during high tide storms. Examples are the
Metropolitan Area Outer Discharge Channel Tunnel (MAODC) project in Tokyo and a
parking garage and stormwater facility in Rotterdam and of course the multi-purpose
Storm Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) in Kuala Lumpur.
In addition to melting ice, climate change has
brought a significant increase in the variability of precipitation. The
occurrence of floods and droughts has increased. In my home city, São Paulo, it
rained more in just a few hours at the beginning of April than the historic
average for the whole month. On the other hand, we had the driest March in
decades. In order to mitigate the effects of droughts, the role of reservoirs
and tunnels interconnecting them for better management is obvious.
Question 4: Underground Spaces and
Tunnelling planning have emerged as priorities among the policies of the United
Nations. Do you think this will encourage governments to take action and
develop projects in order to protect populations?
The United
Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction strongly suggests planners
to take measures which make cities more resilient. The excellent performance of
tunnels when compared to that of elevated transportation infrastructure has
become evident in many occasions, for example in the Loma Prieta earthquake in
1989 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr.
Aliye P. Celik, a sociologist, and the Chairperson of
the Habitat II Conference in Istanbul wrote in the WTC 1996 Open Session in
Washington, DC: “... Tunnels will be a useful tool for water and energy supply,
sewage and transportation
systems”. I am sure that governments will more and more need to show compliance
with state-of-the-art planning for their cities including the extensive use of
the underground space.
Tunnelling Industry and Digital Applications: the future of tunnelling
tools and programs:
Question 5: For centuries, the
tunnelling industry has always required the most advanced technologies:
nowadays, what is the cutting-edge technology currently used in tunnelling
construction?
The evolution of tunnel-boring machines, rock
drilling and concrete spraying equipment, among others, is remarkable. In all
these, the extensive use of information technology has brought significant
improvement for productivity and reliability of tunnel excavation.
Question 6: Global societies have
shifted over the years. The digital era is now on and it’s impacting world
industries and economies. How does the tunnelling industry adopt these new
tools ? (safety applications…)
The use of on-board electronics in equipment
for both mechanized and conventional tunnelling has increased significantly,
bringing improvement related to reliability of the excavations and decrease in construction
time. Similar progress has also occurred in monitoring underground construction
works with the use of fiber optics, information obtained by satellites, etc.
During the San Francisco WTC in 2016, a special technical session dealt with
these developments and their positive impact for underground excavations.
Question 7: Do these new
technologies create a new landscape in tunnelling employment? If so, what are
the most sought-after new profiles for the tunnelling industry?
Mastering digital tools is essential. However,
understanding the complexity of the phenomena involved in tunnel excavation
(mechanical interaction with a ground mass sometimes characterized by important
variability) is still very important.
About the
International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association:
The International Tunnelling
and Underground Space Association (ITA) is a non -profit and non-governmental
international organization, which aims at promoting the use of underground
space as a solution to sustainable development. Founded in 1974 and operating
out of Lausanne, Switzerland, ITA currently associates 73 Member Nations, 300
affiliated members, 17 Prime Sponsors and 60 supporters.