Welcome to the ita@news n°35

Message from In-Mo Lee, New ITA President  

Dear ITA Colleagues

This is In-Mo Lee from Korea. I was elected to be the President of ITA for the coming three years’ term in the Vancouver General Assembly. I am the first Asian to become the ITA president in 36 years’ ITA history.

Let me introduce myself to you. I was born in 1954 and grown up at the countryside of the Korean peninsula until I went to Seoul for my undergraduate studies. I received a B.S. degree in Seoul, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in the United States. Talking about family, Yun-Shik is my wife, and we have one son, Yohan.

During my campaign for the presidential election, I always insisted that it is really important for ITA to be functioning in harmony. As the newly elected president, I will try my best to lead the ITA in harmony, well-balanced harmony. My role as the ITA president is the “pipeline”: the pipeline connecting the western with the eastern; the pipeline connecting active member nations with emerging member nations; and the pipeline connecting experienced tunnel engineers with young engineers.

Thank you very much for your support and good luck to each and every member nation.

In-Mo Lee
President of ITA 2010-2013

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36th ITA General Assembly Press Release  

The International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association held its thirty-sixth meeting in Vancouver, Canada, from 14 to 20 May, in conjunction with the World Tunnel Congress 2010 "Tunnel vision towards 2020" organised by ITA and the Tunnelling Association of Canada. 950 persons participated to the Congress. 48 of the 58 Member Nations participated or were represented in the General Assembly.(download the press release)

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Video Interview of M. Martin Knights & M. Prof. In-Mo Lee  

During the General Assembly in Vancouver, the ITA Member Nations have elected Prof In-Mo LEE as new President.

Tunneltalk.com has prepared an interview of In-Mo LEE and Martin Knights.

To watch the video follow this link>>

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Muir Wood lecture 2010 is on line  

This lecture is ITA's new initiative to celebrate the memory of our Founding President Sir Alan Muir Wood.

In Budapest last year we paid tribute to the memory of Sir Alan following his death earlier in 2009. His son Professor David Muir Wood was there to share the occasion and today David is with us again as we hold the first ITA Muir Wood Lecture here in Vancouver.

Our criteria for selecting the Muir Wood lecture was that a person of international standing in the global tunnelling profession should represent the "spirit" of Sir Alan and the topic of the lecture should discuss fundamental issues that challenge our industry and discuss principles and substance that were always the basis of Sir Alan's thinking and approach to Engineering.

Alan wrote a paper for the UK Royal Academy of Engineering called "Tunnel Vision".

I recommend that everyone takes time to read it. It is a well ordered stream of consciousness that will resonate with Engineers of any discipline—not just Tunnellers.

Before introducing our Muir Wood Lecturer let me share two quotes from Sir Alans Tunnel Vision paper.

Economy and efficiency would be served by freeing the contractor from the need to carry responsibility for incalculable risks beyond his control ,by the use of such features as `reference conditions ` which set clear limits on physical features, usually based on characteristics of the ground ,that fall within the contractor's liabilities.

A tunnel is a long cylindrical hole through ground in a state of plane strain with a geologist at one end and group of lawyers at the other—yet more dire is the present day phenomenon of lawyers at each end .

This is very much the subject of tomorrows Open Session on the Ground Reference Conditions for tunnel projects .

It gives me great pleasure to introduce our inaugural Muir Wood Speaker Professor Einar Broch –a Past President of ITA and close friend of Sir Alan,

Einar needs little introduction to the ITA world but He is Professor of Geological Engineering. Advisor to tunnelling and underground projects in 15 countries, particularly hydropower projects. President of International Tunnelling Association between 1986 and 1989. Senior Editor of "Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology". Associate Editor of "Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering". Member of Panel of Experts and Dispute Review Boards for several international projects. Author of more than 100 papers. Member of the Norwegian Academy of Technical Sciences.

Professor Broch, Einar, I `ve known you for sometime and in addition to you being an inspiration to your academic colleagues and students in Trondheim and Norway your papers and lecturers have been a source of reference around the world.

Its an honour to introduce you as a celebrated Engineer, teacher and friend. You are indeed an example of the spirit of the Sir Alan.

Martin C. Knights - ITA President

 

Download the Muir Wood Lecture given by Prof EInar Broch : "TUNNELS AND UNDERGROUND WORKS FOR HYDROPOWER PROJECTS, - lessons learned in home country and from projects worldwide."

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ITA Open Session on Ground reference Information  

ITA OPEN SESSION ON GROUND REFERENCE INFORMATION FOR BIDDING TUNNEL PROJECTS – CURRENT PRACTICE, SHORTCOMINGS/BENEFITS AND FUTURE CHALLENGES
The Open Session prepared by Markus Thewes and Soren Eskesen was chaired by Martin Knights, ITA President. During the Open Session, presentations were made by : Markus Thewes, ITA ExCo, on "Requirements Concerning Geotechnical Investigation for the Minimization of Risks in Shield Tunnelling"; Joe Gildner on “Client View”; Arnold Dix on “Bringing Certainty to the Unknown” The Role of law in the Apportionment of Underground Construction Risks”, Michael Rehbock/Sander on “Risk Sharing : Planners / Clients View”; Marco Giorelli on “Ground Reference Requirements for EPBs/Experiences”; Ulrich Wadepohl on “International Experience Contractors View” and Jeff Petersen on “Experiences/Contractors View”. (more)

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ITA in Vancouver  

The whole ITA family gathered in Vancouver for the WTC 2010 and 36th General Assembly. The organization proposed by the Tunnelling Association Canada was wonderful and this congress has been a great success.

have a look to the pictures taken all other the WTC and ITA activities.(photos provided by TAC, photographer Jon Benjamin Photography). 

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ITA has three new Member Nations  

At the occasion of the ITA General Assembly, 3 new countries have joined ITA and became ITA Member Nations : Argentina, Bosnia&Herzegovina and Montenegro.

The ceremony for Argentina took place in Vancouver, as the one for Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro would could not be present in Vancouver took place in Opatija (Croatia) at the occasion of a seminar on underground space use

 

 

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New Working Group reports  

In the last months three reports have been published by the ITA Working groups:

• Report on Environmental and sustainable development reasons to go underground
• Report on long tunnels at great depth
• Shotcrete for rock Support - A Summary report on State-of-the-Art

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ITACET Foundation training course  

A 2-day course has been organised by the ITACET foundation and TAC. There were 21 lecturers on “General aspects for Tunnelling” (17 teaching hours) and 195 participants from 32 countries including 85 from Canada, 45 from USA.  (more)

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STUVA celebrates its 50th Anniversary  

On June 17-18, 2010, STUVA celebrated its 50th anniversary.The jubilee has been divided up into the “Young Forum” and the three-part festive ceremony: At the “Young Forum” seven up-and-coming tunnellers have communicated something of the fascination exerted by tunnelling.  . The first part of the ceremony has been devoted to the “Future of Underground Construction” taking the entire spectrum of important spheres of influence into consideration.
In the second part, congratulations speeks have been made by the City of Dusseldorf, the Federal Transport Secretary of State and by Prof. In Mo Lee ITA President. Then, Gunther Girnau, former CEO of Stuva and former ITA President made a speech on "between vision and truth, 50 years of discovery by STUVA. The third part was devoted to the "Wehrhahn metro line" in Dusseldorf. 

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International seminar on tunnels and underground structures  

At the occasion of the annual meeting of the Chamber of Engineer, Croatia, ITA Croatia organized an international seminar on Tunnels and underground structures with lectures from

• Prof In Mo Lee, ITA President, on Seoul Underground Structures
• Olivier Vion, ITA Executive Director, on Metro in Toulouse - Reasons for a choice, key factors
• Prof Yun Bay, ITA Vice President, on Experiences and lessons from Shanghai underground construction and management
• Vladimir Jovanovic, Serbia, on Interceptor in Belgrad
• Prof Eivind Grov, ITA Past Vice President, on Nordic Inter Island Tunnel connections
• Soren Eskesen, ITA Vice President, Tunnels and underground structures for the metro of Copenhagen
• Martin Foster, Herrenknecht, TBM in urban areas

At this occasion ITA Croatia, ITA Bosnia- Herzegovina and ITA Monetnegro as well as representative in the newly lauched association of tunnelling of Serbia met with ITA President In Mo Lee and executive director Olivier Vion.

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Tauern Tunnel Second Tube opens  

 
The second tube of the Tauern Tunnel on the A10 Tauern Motorway was opened to schedule on 30th April, 2010, after a little less than four years' construction.

This is an important step towards putting an end to severe congestions on one of Austria's busiest north-south transit routes. The tunnel of 6,400m length was mined by Porr Tunnelbau GmbH in only 22 months. Featuring 7 lay-bys, 26 cross cuts (of which 17 accessible – 6 to emergency vehicles and 3 to EU trucks), full cross ventilation and a bright light-reflecting tunnel-wall coat, the new downhill tube is among Austria's most state-of-the-art tunnels in terms of the Austrian Road Construction Guidelines (RVS – Richtlinien und Vorschriften für den Straßenbau).
 
"Spending 173 million euros, ASFINAG has acquired maximum quality for the construction of the second tube, which is looked upon as a flagship project for future tunnels", says Gernot Brandtner, executive director of ASFINAG Bau Management GmbH.
Mr. Brandtner emphasises that the construction of second tubes is the most effective means of minimising traffic risks in tunnels.
Alexander Walcher, executive director of ASFINAG, points out that the opening of the Tauern Tunnel second tube marks the completion of one of the safest tunnel projects in Austria.
 
After refurbishment of the old tube, the twin tunnels will start full operation at the end of June 2011. The whole project, i.e. construction of the new tube and general refurbishment of the existing tube, will cost 212 million euros.
As part of the project, residents in the Pongau and Lungau valleys will receive additional environmental relief structures such as noise protection galleries and walls.

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Martin C. Knights receives the Society's James Clark medal  

During the BTS meeting on June 17th 2010, Martin Knights was presented with the Society's James Clark Medal in recognition of his contribution to tunnelling and to the BTS through his recent presidency of ITA.  The presentation was made by Bob Ibell, Chairman of the BTS. The medal is awarded annually in memory of James Clark an eminent British tunneller and a member of the BTS in its formative years. I introduced Martin to the audience and the presentation was followed by a lecture on Norwegian under sea tunnels by Eivind  Grøv.

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New Zealand set to embark on biggest road tunneling project to date.  

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is about to embark on the ground-breaking construction of New Zealand’s largest ever road tunnel.

The NZTA will soon be calling for registrations of interest into the construction of the 2x three-lane road tunnels that will require underground work at an unprecedented scale - in a country where road tunnels are relatively rare.

The 2.5km Waterview Connection tunnels will play a key role in completing a ring route around the west of Auckland. The Western Ring Route was recently identified as one of the Government’s seven ‘roads of national significance’ helping to enable economic development for the country. Once completed, it will have a significant impact on easing congestion and will improve connectivity throughout the city.

It is the most complex and significant road construction to take place in the country to date and will cater for the equivalent of over half the New Zealand population in a year. The tunnels will be constructed through a soft sedimentary rock, although basalt lava flows have influenced the tunnels’ design and portal location.

Other construction works in the overall project include the widening and raising of 3.2km of a nearby state highway causeway, works to major interchanges (including new interchange ramps and four new viaducts) and shape correction and resurfacing works.

Construction is expected to begin in late 2011 subject to completing the statutory approval processes.

If you are interested in being a part of this major first for New Zealand, visit http://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/waterviewconnection/construction/ for more information on the procurement process and how you can be involved.


Key Facts:
Twin bored three-lane tunnel
2.1km long underground
2x 11m high by 14m wide tunnels
2 x 25-30m high ventilation stacks
450m long cut and cover section

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International Congress Lyon 2011 - Call for paper  

• Theme A: Underground space, a crucial solution for a sustainable city
• Theme B: Technological innovations in underground works
• Theme C: The long life of underground constructions
• Theme D: Making underground spaces more attractive
• Theme E: Project financing and contractualization

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