Cavico Corp. announced that Cavico Transportation, its wholly owned subsidiary, has signed a contract, estimated to be approximately USD9.43 million, for tunnel construction at Huoi Quang hydropower plant. The total length of tunnel is 9,895.89 metres. Its external diameter is 9 m and the internal diameter equals 7.5 m. The geology is porphyric rock and rhyolite. The planned method of excavation is drill and blast and conventional excavator equipped with bucket. ..

The Coentunnel Company BV consortium, formed by VINCI Concessions and VINCI Construction’s subsidiaries CFE and Dredging International, together with Dura Vermeer, Arcadis, Besix and TBI, signed on 22nd April, 2008 the concession contract for the Coen tunnel in Amsterdam with the Dutch Minister for Water and Public Works. The project, worth over EUR500 million in total, calls for the financing, design and construction of an immersed, 8-lane road tunnel, refurbishment of the existing 600 m tunnel and maintenance of both tunnels for a period of 30 years. ..

A group of engineering firms led by Pro Iter, teaming with Eng Team & Partners, C&T Engineering, Geosyntech and Spain’s FHECOR, scooped a EUR764,600 contract to prepare the final design, safety coordination during final design and associated assignments (surveying, geotechnical and geological studies, etc.) as part of the upgrading of road SS13 "Pontebbana" from the south ring road in Udine to Pordenone province's road system, first lot on the section from Ronche di Fontanafredda interchange to Ponte della Delizia. The project includes a 1.4 km single-tube two-lane cut-and-cover tunnel. Visit ..

Bemel Norge, Witt & Sohn's partner in Norway, pocketed a NOK7.2 million contract to supply impulse ventilators with a combined driving power of 72-80 kN for fire ventilation in a new 2.6 km-long tunnel on Bergen's west ring road, section Dolvik-Sandeide of road Rv 557. Visit www.bemel.no and www.wittfan.de 17/08...

Invitation for prequalification, deadline 6th June, 2008 for the main civil works of the 309 MW Upper Tamakoshi hydroelectric project (contract No. UTKHEP/03-2064/65) which consist of a 22.5 m-high and 60 m-long diversion dam; the Bhaise Khola intake structure including an approx. 60 m-long connecting shaft to the headrace tunnel;

Sociedad Concesionaria Autopista Los Libertadores S.A. was awarded the concession for the construction and operation of the 117 km Santiago-Colina-Los Andes highway under a public tender in 1997, for a term of 28 years. The operator is owned by OHL of Spain. OHL will invest USD101 million in expanding and improving the highway. The Chacabuco tunnel will be doubled and the upgrading of a 19.5 km

Invitation to prequalify, deadline unspecified, for construction of 750 mm-diameter gas pipelines. Contractors are required to have experience in tunnelling and microtunnelling. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=67831-2008, OJ S 49, or contact Snam Rete Gas, San Donato Milanese, fax +39 0252038570. Visit mevem@snamretegas.it 13/08.

The elite of the world's tunnelling industry is meeting in Melbourne, Australia this week from 4th to 7th May to discuss engineering in a changing environment. With the current high level of tunnelling activity in the country, including the 4.7 km-long Brisbane North South Bypass with two large TBMs, and the Melbourne Water/Yarra Valley Water Northern Sewerage Project with three TBMs, the conference should prove interesting.

AN Abstract of a paper to be presented by P S SMith and C Macdonald from Connell and Wagner Pty Ltd at the 13th Australian Tunnel Conference in Melbourne Australia

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will invite applications on 2 May 2008 for prequalification of tenderers for two construction contracts, Contract no. DC/2007/23 and Contract no. DC/2007/24, which form part of the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme Stage 2A Project. The closing date and time for submission of the application is 12:00 noon on Friday, 27 June 2008.

Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates sees need for installing stainless steel strapping and adding 900 ceiling anchors to secure the ceilings at either end of the Ted Williams tunnel. The recommendation came as part of a safety review ordered in the wake of a July 2006 fatal ceiling collapse, and is designed to act as a backup to bolts already in place. 18-19/08.

The Turkish motorway management authority, KGM, is currently building a new 350 km-long four-lane road from Espiye to Sarp Batumi along the coast of the Black Sea. Over 20 tunnels with a total length of 28 kilometres will be equipped with Traficon’s video detection system. Six existing tunnels will also be integrated in the overall traffic management structure. 18-19/08.

Mott MacDonald has issued a prequalification notice for the refurbishment of Cuilfail tunnel in south-east England. Click here for details. 17/08.

The organizers of the recent ISTSS conference in Munich were very pleased by the higher than expected attendance of 263 delegates and the fact that over 30 countries were represented. The conference has certainly become an internationally recognized event. Furthermore, it was gratifying to see that so many of the attendees stayed for all presentations, and the auditorium was full for most of days 1 and 2, with good attendance on day 3.

Kapsch TrafficCom pocketed a contract from Australia. Through traffic under the North-South Bypass Tunnel (NSBT) in Brisbane will be tolled with Kapsch equipment. 17/08.

A protocol of intent was signed in December 2007 between Roma Metropolitane, Metro C - the contractor appointed to build Line C of the Rome metro -, consortium Fastigi, Ansaldo Trasporti Sistemi Ferroviari, Ansaldobreda and consortium Train to organise a fire safety test in December 2008. 17/08.

Mobile phone user in London, Paris or New York may feel aggrieved when they get on the underground or the metro or the subway and their phone becomes useless, starved of vital radio communications. Similarly, tunnels often present a radio coverage problem. When drivers enter road tunnels, radio reception gradually vanishes and re-obtained as they exit the tunnels. Larger tunnels require a dedicated radio zone, which often requires construction of a full communication site to provide coverage. A good example of safety improvement thanks to radio coverage is the Grand Saint-Bernard cross-border tunnel between Italy and Switzerland. 17/08.

Two trains collided in a single-track tunnel in Algeria, killing the driver of one of the trains and injuring four railway workers, one of them severely. One of the trains was transporting fuel. A fire erupted and propagated gradually to the 15 carriages, triggering a chain of explosions, and to the seven carriages of the other train. Rescuers could not get into the tunnel for two days due to extremely high temperatures. 16/08.

The tunnel boring machine digging the tunnel for the North Shore Connector in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, reached the banks of the Allegheny River on 3rd April, 2008 as it followed a sloping path beneath the river bed toward Downtown. 16/08

The Melbourne coroner has ordered that an expert tunnel emergency systems report on last year's fatal Burnley Tunnel crash not be released for publication and all details be suppressed. This is to protect the fairness of the trial for the driver of the truck accused of causing the crashes.

Anti-intrusion solution provides 4D-based incident detection that can be used with existing infrastructure to manage traffic, security and safety operations. Video-based detection systems enable rapid detection of incidents and can be tailored to instantly identify and alert management about various incidents. Managers of such resources can more effectively address security and operations efficiencies in today’s more safety and security conscience environments. 16/08.

Arup director Mike Glover became in 2007 the seventh winner of the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering’s Sir Frank Whittle Medal in recognition of his achievement in the planning, design and construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL). The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) now announces it will honour Mike Glover with the 2008 IStructE Gold Medal, for his outstanding contribution to the design and construction of major multi-disciplinary projects around the world. 15/08.