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The ”Standard Tunnel Construction Method“ of Rhaetian Railways
Author(s) -
Grossauer Karl,
Modetta Flavio,
Tanner Urs
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geomechanics and tunnelling
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.317
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1865-7389
pISSN - 1865-7362
DOI - 10.1002/geot.201700029
Subject(s) - engineering , civil engineering , forensic engineering , geology , construction engineering
The Rhaetian Railways AG (RhB) operates an approximately 384 km long rail network, predominantly in the Canton of Graubünden (CH). With much of this rail network being situated in Alpine terrain, extensive engineering infrastructure is used; approx. 20 % of the entire rail system consists of such structures. The majority of these engineering structures are the 115 tunnels with a combined length of 58.7 km, constructed between 1901 and 1914. Due to the age of the tunnels, more than half of the 115 tunnels require renovation. The RhB has estimated that approximately 75 of these tunnel structures (with a combined length of approx. 26 km) will require extensive repair within the next 50 years. Thus a new standardized rehabilitation strategy was developed under the name ”Standard Tunnel Construction Method“ to ensure that the existing rail tunnels satisfy current tunnel design standards [1]. The primary goal of the ”Standard Tunnel Construction Method“ is to ensure that renovation costs are consistently lower compared to previous renovations by following a standardized workflow process. The primary challenges associated with such renovations are concerned with determining the extent of repair required for the tunnel as well as creating a feasible concept, which allows for the tunnel to be repaired while still remaining operational. Using the ”Standard Tunnel Construction Method“, it is possible to optimize the tunnel rehabilitation strategy while maximizing quality and minimizing monetary costs.