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28.01.2016 - View of the hollow

28.01.2016 - View of the hollow -

While construction activity on the new Albula Tunnel largely stopped for winter at the Preda and Spinas ends of the site, work in the hollow carried on at full tilt. Laborious and complex preparatory work is being carried out at metre 1,300 of the tunnel in order to stabilise the Rauwacke, a geological fault consisting of cellular limestone.

In order to ensure safe tunnelling through the cellular-limestone fault, the surrounding sludge is being frozen solid over several months. Some 120 freezing holes are being drilled into the hollow for this purpose. Special drilling machines are used to create holes at average intervals of one metre around the actual tunnel cross-section of 60 metres, penetrating deep into the mountain and running through three different types of rock. Cooling lances are then inserted into the drill holes, and generators are used to bring their temperature down to as low as minus 15°C. The freezing process will start in April, so that tunnelling through the geological fault can begin in autumn. Once the fault has been dealt with and the walls of the tunnel have been stabilised and lined with shotcrete, the generators will be switched off and the rock allowed to thaw once more.

Smaller installation tasks are currently under way outside the tunnel in preparation for the restarting of operations in March.

24.11.2015 - The project is progressing to plan

24.11.2015 - The project is progressing to plan

Much has changed at the site since the ceremony at the end of August to mark the start of work on the Albula Tunnel. The miners, blasters, foremen and everyone else involved have moved in, and work was proceeding at full tilt at the Preda and Spinas sites just before the winter break.

News

News

Drilling and excavating machines are hard at work every day on the Rhaetian Railway's biggest construction site. The first turf was officially dug in summer 2014, marking the start of installation work at both the Preda and Spinas ends of the tunnel. The actual excavation of the new Albula Tunnel began in August 2015. There was thus a gap of fourteen months, occupied by intensive preparations, between that initial starting whistle and the commencement of tunnelling work. This section contains information updates and highlights of the construction work on the new Albula Tunnel, along with a summary of the past few months' events.