The construction contract for the EUR133 million Lai Chi Kok Transfer Scheme, advertised at tunnelbuilder.com earlier this year, has been awarded to Leighton Asia. The project includes two 4.9 m-diameter storm water drainage tunnels with total length of 3.7 km between West Kowloon reclamation and Lai Chi Kok and Sham Shui Po districts, six intake shafts, a stilling basin, an outfall adit into Victoria Harbour, and 270 m of 3 m-diameter connection adits. Work starts immediately for completion in 2012. More from Quinnie Lee, tel +852 2823 1427, e-mail quinnie.lee@leightonasia.com 47/08..

Contract valued EUR414,000 awarded by Norwegian Railway Infrastructure Administration to Norconsult AS of Sandvika to provide technical and detailed plans of tunnels for the joint project E6 road and Dovrebanen, lot Minnesund-Kleverud, which includes one twin-tube 0.6 km-long road tunnel and 3.1 km of single railway tunnel over a 17 km-long alignment in Eidsvoll and Stange municipalities. ..

Contract for telecommunications installations for 6.5 km section of new double railway track in Baerum municipality for Lysaker-Sandvika, of which 5.5 km in tunnel, awarded by Jernbaneverket to T Connect AS of Manglerud, Oslo. http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=292852-2008 More from Olaf Bjerknes, tel +47 9943 4144, e-mail olbj@jbv.no 46/08. ..

Bemel Norge AS of Majorstuen, Oslo has been awarded the contract to supply ventilation fans to the 5.37 km-long Atlantic Ocean tunnel between Kristiansund and Bremnes on National Road 64 in the value EUR555,000...

Pre-feasibility study being undertaken by ILF Consulting Engineers for construction of single track railway line along the Karakorum highway between the end of the existing railway network in the south at Havelian and the border between Pakistan and China near the famous Khunjrab Pass in the north.

Prequalification underway by MTR for tender reference no 703 for West Island Line SHW to SYP tunnels value EUR30 million with a view to selective invitations to tender being issued in 4Q/2008 for contract award in 3Q/2009. Expressions of interest to Malcolm O’Neill, tel 3921 3383, e-mail moneill@mtr.com.hk Visit www.mtr.com.hk/eng/tenders/new_projects.html 45/08.

Prior information notice for construction works, value EUR24.86 million, for a undergroung cut-and-cover tunnel from Pabellon Moises Ruiz to Plaza de Barcelona, 1,1 km, with 0.8 m-thick base, 1.0 m-thick walls and 1.0 m-thick roof, on Carretera de Ronda, in Almeria. The works will include intermodal station.

Directive 2004/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29th April, 2004 refers to the minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the trans-European road network. It was published in the Official Journal of the European Union L 167 of 30th April, 2004.07/08.

In March 1999, a transport truck caught fire in the 11.6 km Mont Blanc tunnel between France and Italy. Fueled by a load of margarine, the fire burned for more than 50 hours, trapping 40 vehicles and killing 39 people. Sadly, the inferno may have been lessened if authorities had not pumped in fresh air, forcing smoke to spread throughout the tunnel. 07/08.

The third international symposium on tunnel safety and security (ISTSS) will be held at Foresta Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, from 12th to 14th March, 2008. This event will bring together expertise in the field of safety and security for two and a half days of presentations and exhibits. Papers and discussions will involve topics ranging from emerging research to international regulations, incident management and much more. To know the programme, click here or visit the ISTSS website at www.sp.se/fire/ISTSS2008. Contact SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, tel. +46 105165219, e-mail info@sp.se and margaret.simonson@sp.se 07/08.

The M50 Dublin Port tunnel is the longest urban motorway tunnel in Europe, comprising two twin lane tunnels, each 4.5 km long. Defective acoustic tiles which have been falling off the walls of the tunnel have been removed. 06/08.

The joint IWMA/COSUF conference on fire suppression in tunnels will be held on 2nd and 3rd April in Munich, Germany. The conference focuses on fixed fire suppression systems for tunnel applications and includes related topics such as detection, reliability and cost.

A major step forward in tunnel safety has been accomplished as planners have decided to equip the future second Tyne tunnel crossing with the water mist technology. In recent years, the industry has learned many lessons from the Mont Blanc, Gotthard and Tauern tunnel fires in Europe, which led to serious loss of life. These also resulted in major financial losses and disruptions when the tunnels were closed following the fires. The new safety measures mean it will provide the safest crossing possible to avoid history to be repeated. 06/08.

Consultants and contractors will pay more than USD458 million to settle a state lawsuit over the fatal Boston tunnel collapse that killed a woman in July 2006 and to cover leaks and design flaws in the major construction project of America’s history. 05/08.

From 20th to 22nd February, 2008, the fourth edition of VIATEC will deal with the construction of road infrastructure in mountainous areas. Equipment and machinery will be on show, safety systems for construction sites and roads in operation, road construction machinery, solutions to build tunnels equipment for the maintenance of infrastructure in all seasons. 05/08.

The US House of Representatives, led by Massachusetts Congressman Michael Capuano, has approved a national highway tunnel inspection programme. The legislation amending the Nationwide Bridge Inspection Programme to include the mandatory inspection of all highway tunnels was passed in August 2007 in the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. 05/08.

A European tunnel audit report has been produced covering the last years of tunnel tests under EuroTAP, focussing what has been achieved and what still needs to be done. The report highlights Europe's best and worst tunnels and distinguishes the best European tunnels with the European Tunnel Awards. 05/08.

The government of the Federal District invites international tenders for the construction of the metro line that will connect the west and southeast of the capital. The Golden Line, as Line 12 is also named, will serve 23 stations along its 24.5 km subterranean route. 04/08.

According to video recordings of Hrvatske Ceste, the Croatian Motorways, a tunnel can become a place to turn around, stop, or go to the bathroom. View incredible scenes of drivers unaware of driving rules in tunnels, thoughtless of the risks they run and how they actually endanger other people’s lives at www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuONKx5cKMQ 04/08.

The Hanging Lake tunnel is actually two separate two-lane bores on Interstate 70 in the south wall of scenic Glenwood Canyon. The tunnel allows I-70 to be completely removed from the canyon in the Hanging Lake area. The Hanging Lake bores are approx. 1,200 m long. Engineers and technicians faced challenges of repairing a major crack in the concrete roof of the tunnel. 04/08.

The Kaprun fire, at one of Austria's most popular ski resorts, occurred in an ascending railway car in the tunnel of the Gletscher railway line 2 in November 2000. The inferno was the country's worst disaster since World War II. 04/08.

The family of a woman killed when the ceiling of a Big Dig tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts collapsed on her car in July 2006 has agreed to a USD6 million settlement with the company that supplied the epoxy glue blamed for the accident. 04/08.