MEMBER NATIONS PRESENT OR REPRESENTED
South Africa, Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Republic of Korea, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt,
Spain, United States of America, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Lao, Malaysia, Morocco,
Norway, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, United Kingdom, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden,
Switzerland, Czech Republic, Thailand, Turkey.
MEMBER NATIONS NOT PRESENT
Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Iceland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Mexico, Peru, Ukraine,
Venezuela, Vietnam.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
Members
M. Knights United Kingdom President Until 2010
H. Parker USA Past President Until 2010
P. Grasso Italy Vice-President Until 2010
E. Grov Norway Vice-President Until 2010
Y. Leblais France Vice-President Until 2010
I.-M. Lee Korea Vice-President Until 2010
S. Eskesen Denmark Until 2010
K. Fukumoto Japan Until 2010
I. Hrdina Czech Republic Until 2010
M. Thewes Germany Until 2010
V. Umnov Russia Until 2010
B. Yun China Until 2011
D. Brox Canada WTC 2010 Until 2010
F. Vuilleumier Switzerland Treasurer Until 2010
C. Bérenguier Secretary General Until 2011
Experts
S. Calinescu Romania Internal Auditor Until 2009
P. Saarka Finland WTC 2011 Until 2011
MEMBERSHIP
The Association has registered the membership of a new Member Nation, Lao, and 14 new Affiliate Members
(10 Corporate Members and 4 Individual Members); the total results to 55 Member Nations and 273 Affiliate Members (151
Corporate Members and 122 Individual Members) taking into account some resignations.
Secretariat: ITA-AITES c/o EPFL - Bât. GC – Station 18 - CH-1015 Lausanne - Switzerland
Fax: +41 21 693 41 53 - Tel.: +41 21 693 23 10 - e-mail: secretariat@ita-aites.org - www.ita-aites.org
ITA - AITES
MAIN DECISIONS
• Creation of the "Muir Wood Lecture" which will take place once a year during ITA WTCs.
• ITA will become a founder of the Foundation on Education and Training for Tunnelling and Underground Space Use.
COMMUNICATION
• Tribune: In 2009, the annual issue with focus on Hungary including the reports of 30 Member Nations, reports of İTA
Prime sponsors and supporters has been published in May and sent to members as well as distributed to the participants to
the WTC 2009 in Budapest.
• ita@news: In 2008/2009, 4 issues of the ita@news have been sent. The ita@news contents news from the association, the
WGs, the Member Nations, the forthcoming events, the sister associations, The ita@news is sent to 7’700 addresses and to
the Member Nations and Affiliate Members.
• Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology (TUST): ITA Members have access an electronic version of TUST
(including archives). This subscription is paid by ITA.
• Website: The web site contains around 1 000 html pages and 1 000 pdf documents representing around 12 000 printable
pages. The number of distinct visitors is around 5 000 per month. The average time of a visit is over 5 minutes.
• ITA – Reports: Reports from ITA Working Groups are now published by ITA under “ITA Reports”. Two reports have
been published : “Guidelines for good occupational health & safety practice in tunnel construction” prepared by WG5 and
“General report on conventional tunnelling” by WG19.
ITA OPEN SESSION ON PLANNING OF MODERN TUNNEL PROJECTS WITH EMPHASIS ON URBAN AREAS
The Open Session was introduced by Piergiorgio Grasso and coordinated by P. Grasso and E. Grov. During the Open Session,
presentations were made by : Amanda Elioff, Animateur of WG 20 on "Modern Tunnel Planning – A U.S. Perspective";
Gusztav Klados on “The Smart project in Malaysia”; Pablo Bueno on “Madrid Metro and M30 Project”; Vähäadho Ilkka /
“Underground (UG) – Master Plan of Helsinki” and Gu Xin / “Master Plan of Shenzhen (China) on Master plan for the
utilisation of the Underground”; Keith Tsang on “Deep Sewage Tunnels in Hong Kong”; Harvey Parker on “A new tunnel in
Seattle to replace the aging and earthquake-damaged viaduct along the waterfront”. The proper planning and stakeholders
consensus are playing a key role in the success of underground projects. The underground solution is often the optimum
solution for satisfying the demands of human mobility, infrastructures, utility connection and enhanced wellbeing, but it is a
limited resource and should be exploited with vision, sustainable cost/effective and adequately supported solutions. This is the
effective message communicated by the different experiences and projects, often incorporating innovative technical solutions,
presented and debated in the session.
TRAINING COU RSE “RISK DURING CONSTRUCTION OF URBAN TUNNELS IN SOFT GROUND”
Coordinated by M. Thewes, member of ITA Executive Council, A. Assis, President of ITA-CET and D. Peila, Animator of
ITA/AITES WG18 “Training”.
About 100 participants attended to the training course. 17 lectures were presented or co-presented by 24 lecturers from 10
countries. 9 lectures were contributed from various ITA Prime Sponsors, other lectures were prepared by distinguished
Hungarian engineers, by ITA animateurs or by members of the ITA executive council. The high class lecturers during two
days gave a total of 12 hours of excellent presentations about conventional and mechanized tunnelling for tunnels in soft
ground in urban areas. The lectures covered both the theoretical point of view and practical experience with relevant case
histories. Engaged and lively discussions showed the high interest of the participants, to whom certificates of participation
were handed out at the end of the course.
NEXT ANNUAL MEETINGS
• Vancouver, Canada, from 15 to 20 May, 2010, during the ITA-AITES WTC 2010 "Tunnel vision towards 2020"
• Helsinki, Finland, from 21 to 26 May, 2011, during the ITA-AITES WTC 2011 "Underground spaces in the service of a
sustainable society"
• Bangkok, Thailand, from 18 to 23 May, 2012, during the ITA-AITES WTC 2012 “Tunnelling and Underground Space for
a global Society”
WORKING GROUPS AND COMMITTEES
ITA-COSUF Committee on Operational Safety of underground Facilities
Chairman: F. Amberg (ITA); Vice Chairman: D. Lacroix (PIARC); Tutor: C. Bérenguier (ITA)
ITA COSUF is very active. Its General Assembly will be held in Budapest on 28 May 2009 with a Workshop.
ITA-CET – Committee on Education and Training
Chairman: A. Assis; Vice Chairman: D. Peila; Tutor: C. Bérenguier
ITA-CET held two meetings after Agra: one in Frankfurt (December 2008) and the other one here in Budapest on the occasion
of the ITA WTC 2009. In both meetings, the education and training actions of the Association have been discussed, as well the
evolution of the creation of a foundation to run administratively and financially these actions. ITA-CET has endorsed four
professional master courses on tunneling engineering and has eight short-courses (15 h) under preparation on themes
connected with the ITA Working Groups. Presently, ITA-CET has 40 members, from 24 different countries.
Press release 2 / 4 May 2009
ITA - AITES
ITACUS – Committee on Underground Space
Chairman: Han Admiraal; Vice Chairman: Ray Sterling (Member of ACUUS); Tutor: Harvey Parker (ExCo)
The ITA Committee on Underground Space (ITACUS) met in Budapest on two days during the ITA 2009 WTC. On Monday
25 May 2009 the Steering Board met to discuss current activities and to plan ahead. The first ITACUS White Paper was also
published titled ‘Underground Space: Q&A’. The White Paper aims at explaining to decision makers the benefits of
underground space use and attempt to raise the general awareness regarding the use of underground space. On Tuesday 26
May 2009 a successful Open Meeting was held on the subject of Underground Space Planning.
WG2: "Research"
Animateur: E. Leca (France); Vice-Animateur: Chung Sik Yoo (Korea); Tutor: S. Eskesen (Denmark)
The meetings were attended by 14 participants representing 11 member countries: Korea, Denmark, Spain, United States,
Czech Republic, South Africa, Italy, China, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Thailand. WG2 is currently working on the
preparation of two reference documents which relate to the “Strategy for Site Investigations of Tunnelling Projects” and
“Monitoring and Control of Conventional Tunnelling”. The draft recommendation of “Monitoring and Control of
Conventional Tunnelling” was reviewed during the Budapest meeting and approved by the group. It is expected that a final
draft of “Strategy for Site Investigations of Tunnelling Projects” will be available for review at the Vancouver meeting in May
2009. As part of the action in the area of “Risk Management” which was initiated during the Agra meeting, a training
presentation has been prepared, based on the 2004 “Guidelines for Tunnelling Practices” issued by WG2, and was used during
the pre-conference training course session on May 22. Areas of future activities for WG2 have also been discussed during the
Budapest meeting. An initiative on “High Performance Concrete for Durable Conventional and Segmental Tunnel Ling” has
been proposed. Also discussed was the possibility of “Assessment of Pipeline Damage Associated with Tunnelling induced
Settlements” as a future topic.
WG3: "Contractual Practices in Underground Construction"
Animateur: A. Dix (Australia); Vice Animateur: M. Smith (United Kingdom); Tutor: M. Knights (United Kingdom)
Work continued on the document commenced last year in Agra. Due to huge volumes of input being receive over the past 8
months from the working group members it was necessary for the group to review the information and simplify before
proceeding to completion. Working Group 3 embarked on the preparation of a checklist for all parties as a guidance for the
objective assessment of underground construction contracts. The goal from Agra was to have the document finalised for
Budapest – it is done and will be peer reviewed by WG19 before publication in a few months time. The document forms the
basis of an ongoing and dynamic platform upon which contractual matters will be assessed by the ITA.
WG5: "Health & Safety in Works"
Animateur: D. Lamont (United Kingdom); Vice Animateur: M. Vogel (Switzerland); Tutor: V. Umnov (Russia)
Working Group 5 - Health and Safety in Works - met once during the ITA General Assembly in Budapest. Eight Member
Nations participated in a lively and productive meeting. WG5 is on target to complete the update of the “Safety in Tunnelling”
booklet by the 2010 meeting in Vancouver. This booklet continues to be available in a various languages. The “Guidelines for
good occupational health and safety practice in tunnel construction” have appeared as the first document in the ITA Report
series. WG5 is very close to completing guidance on the “Safe use of temporary ventilation ducting in tunnels”. WG5 agreed
to advise and assist ITA in the inclusion of appropriate occupational health and safety content in ITA endorsed training
courses.
WG6: "Maintenance and Repair of Underground Structures"
Animateur: H. Russell (USA); Vice Animateur: R. van den Bosch (The Netherlands); Tutor: B. Yun (China)
Working Group 6 Repair and Maintenance of Underground Structures met on May 24, 2009 with representatives from 10
member nations and discussed the progress on our new document Structural Fire Protection for Rail Tunnels. In addition
presentations were made on recent TNO research on fire protection for concrete linings and a recent tunnel fire in Norway, and
emergency repair work on the Boston Subway in the USA.
WG11: "Immersed & Floating Tunnels"
Animateur: Ch. Ingerslev (USA); Vice Animateur: J. Baber (United Kingdom); Tutor: Y. Leblais (France)
The Working Group met on Sunday 24th May 2009. The meeting was attended by fourteen participants from ten countries,
namely Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States.
Apologies were received from Finland. A second meeting was held the following day with sixteen participants (four of whom
were new).
Information was exchanged on projects and developments around the world, and group activities between now and the next
ITA Annual Congress were organized as follows:
• The catalogue of immersed tunnels will have new pages added.
• The catalogue of utility tunnels will be uploaded to the web site.
• Sections of the Owner’s Guide prepared will be uploaded within a few weeks and the remaining sections are to be
drafted.
• Some additional tasks for the working group have been identified and task leaders are to be identified.
Press release 3 / 4 May 2009
ITA - AITES
WG12: " Sprayed Concrete Use" (new name)
Animateur: T. Celestino (Brazil); Vice Animateur: A. Ishida (Japan); Tutor: E. Grov (Norway)
The Group met twice with 28 participants form 17 Member Nations. Illustrations were received for the State of the Art Report.
The new version incorporating them will be submitted to the ExCo in two months. Significant progress was reached with
respect to the types of tests for the fiber reinforced spayed concrete testing program. Presentations were made about the results
of two tasks recently completed: Durability and Nozzleman certification. The glossary has already been prepared with 12
languages. Three more languages will be added and the file will be submitted to the ExCo in two months.
WG14: "Mechanization of Excavation"
Animateur: L. Babendererde (Germany); Vice Animateur: F. Amberg (Switzerland); Tutor: K. Fukumoto (Japan)
In order to promote mechanised tunnelling within the industry the WG14 has elaborated now two documents as information
material for interest parties in the early stage of a project. A comparison list of advantages and disadvantages between
mechanised tunnelling and the other tunnelling methods and as well a List of Challenging Projects, showing the capabilities for
TBM tunnelling have been concluded and will be available on the WG web page in the next months.
WG15: "Underground Works and the Environment"
Animateur: J. K. G. Rohde (Norway); Vice Animateur: J. Y. Kaneshiro (USA); Tutor: I.-M. Lee (Korea)
The Working Group meetings were held the 24th and 25th of May 2009, attended by 9 representatives from 7 Member Nations.
The meeting reviewed the final draft report on Environmental and Sustainable Reasons for going Underground which will be
ready for issue in near future. The meeting had 6 presentations on muck disposal, ventilation, vibration, groundwater inflow,
portal aesthetics and their effects on the environment, and confined space constraint issues, as well as extracts related to the
tunnel environment from the Norwegian Road Authority’s Handbook. The overall goals for the group as they relate to
environmental and social impacts are to communicate the 1) environmental advantages and opportunities by going
underground, 2) environmental challenges by going underground and 3) recommendations and guidelines concerning the
environment when going underground. A questionnaire was prepared for circulation to the member nations addressing these
goals, challenges, constraints, risks and environmentally sustainable solutions.
WG17: "Long Tunnels at Great Depth"
Animateur: G. Seingre (Switzerland); Vice Animateur: M Shimokawachi (Japan), did not attend the meeting; Tutor: P. Grasso
(Italy)
The 10th meeting in Budapest was attended by 20 members from 10 different countries: China, France, Iran, Italy, Korea,
Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand. The meeting was dedicated to the presentation of cases histories. 4
technical presentations were given. Due to the recent evolution of the safety rules in Europe, a proposal of minor changes and
complements on the updated WG report was discussed and partly accepted.
WG18:"Training"
Animateur: D. Peila (Italy); new Vice Animateur: H. Admiraal (Netherlands); Tutor: M. Thewes (Germany)
The meeting was attended by 10 participants coming from the following countries Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, France,
Germany, Italy, UK, USA and The Netherlands. The discussion was focused on the relationship between WG 18 and ITA-CET
and the future activities of the group itself. It was agreed that we are in a transition period and that for this reason WG18 has to
mainly act as a connection between the ITA Member Nations and ITA-CET. The WG 18 main task for the future will be to
identify the training needs and tools for the future. Finally WG 18 will continue to help the other working groups to develop
teaching material from the documents they prepare within their activity. After the transition period it will decided how to
merge the WG 18 activities with ITA CET. Finally the group asked H. Admiraal to go on acting as the vice-animateur and he
accepted.
WG19: "Conventional Tunnelling"
Animateur: H. Ehrbar (Switzerland); Vice Animateur: R. Galler (Austria); Tutor: F. Vuilleumier (Switzerland)
During the ITA World Tunnel Congress 2009 at Budapest, Hungary, the WG 19 hold one meeting with 18 delegates
representing 9 nations. They could take note from the recently published general report on conventional tunnelling. The next
project will be the publication guidelines on special contractual aspects of conventional tunnelling. The delegates from the
United States, Austria and Switzerland gave presentations on contractual aspects of conventional tunnelling. The working
group will collect basic material for the future work. Until the next meeting of WG 19 at Vancouver, Canada, a first draft for
the guidelines on special contractual aspects of conventional tunnelling should be elaborated.
WG20: "Urban Problems, Underground Solutions"
Animateur: A. Elioff (USA); Vice Animateur: W. Broere (Netherlands); Vice Animateur: J. Nishi (ACUUS); Tutor: H. Parker
(USA)
In Working Group 20, there were 20 attendees from 12 countries. The group has made significant progress towards its
objective of creating an overview of the typical challenges of urban city planning and the solutions which are offered by the
underground space. The fifth full draft of the report on urban problems, underground solutions, and key decision factors was
reviewed by the group. The second focus was a review of the case study projects about ingenious underground solutions
worldwide. We have 16 completed case studies and others identified for completion. Most of the completed case studies have
been formatted for publication.
