Steinbuehl Railway Tunnel: Safe with Shotcrete

摘要

Deutsche Bahn's newly built route from Wendlingen to Ulm is a mecca for discerning tunnel builders. This is because half of the route passes through tunnels, which cut through a wide range of different rock strata. A variety of construction methods are required: To create the first tunnel, the Steinbühl tunnel, the shotcrete construction method is used. The 4.8 km long Steinbühl tunnel, together with the Boßler tunnel, will help trains with the difficult climb at Albaufstieg. It is entered at Hohenstadt, at an altitude of 746 metres, close to the A8 Autobahn. In eight years'time, trains will be racing through it at 250 km/h. At present HGVs rumble out of both openings of the Steinbühl tunnel almost without pause to transport the excavated stone and earth: Around the clock blasts are conducted every four to five hours in the three excavation areas. "This allows us to carry out five to six blasts per excavation area, the equivalent of 25 metres of tunnel across the three," explains engineer Christoph Hillinger, who works in the construction management team of the JV'ARGE Tunnel Albaufstieg".