RAILWAY TUNNELLING IN ROCK USING TUNNEL BORING MACHINES

The importance of access to resource deposits in the Canadian Rockies and the Canadian Shield, plus the desirability of improving the existing rail alignments in the Rockies, indicates that significant reductions in tunnelling costs should be a research objective. In the past decade, the reliable use of tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) in hard rock has been demonstrated. New cutter designs and materials have produced improved machine performance. The combination of high-pressure water jets with conventional cutters has been demonstrated to achieve a large increase in production rates. Other technology, involving abrasive fluids, laser cutting and alternative machine configurations, appears to offer further opportunities for performance enhancement. This report examines TBM performance and the auxiliary systems which appear to be capable of integration with the TBM for higher productivity. The economic analysis shows that while the performance is substantially enhanced, the unit costs are not significantly improved. The project duration is generally shortened and this could yield important savings in costs of capital. Some of the technology research options are discussed in the context of acceptable cost and feasibility of demonstration in a commercial project.

• Corporate Authors:

  Canadian Institute of Guided Ground Transport

  Queen's University
  Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6,   Canada 

  Transport Canada Research and Development Centre

  1000 Sherbrooke Street, West, P.O. Box 549
  Montreal, Quebec H3A 2R3,   Canada 
• Authors:
  • RENFREW, R M
• Publication Date: 1985-1

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: v.p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cost control; Lasers; Railroad tunnels; Rocks; Tunneling; Tunneling machines; Waterjets
• Old TRIS Terms: Rock tunneling
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Construction; Geotechnology; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00451062
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: TP 6139E
• Contract Numbers: OSD83-00174
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 30 1985 12:00AM