Poster party of the tunnel bore for the Karlsruhe combined solution

On 19 January 2016, among the active participation of invited guests and project participants, the poster party took place for the Karl-Friedrich Street to be created in the tunnel, to be bored out in the excavation of the future Ettlinger Tor stop in Karlsruhe.

The tunnel bore will be established in the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) at a length of around 250 metres as the connection between the future underground Ettlinger Tor and Marktplatz stations. Due to the surrounding soil (sand and Rhine gravel) as well as the location below the groundwater table, the tunnel will be mined with an atmospheric excess pressure of about one bar.

After the official welcome of the guests by Dr Alexander Pischon and Mr Uwe Konrath, both Managing Directors of the Karlsruhe Rail Infrastructure Company (KASIG), Dr Frank Mentrup, Lord Mayor of the city of Karlsruhe, as well as Dr Grothen, Project Manager of the working group of the city railway tunnel of Karlsruhe, the blessing of St. Barbara took place by the Catholic city dean, Hubert Streckert and his Protestant colleague, Dr Thomas Schalla.

Dipl.Ing. Helmut Göhringer was informed about the importance of the compressed air propulsion by the head of BeMo Tunnelling GmbH as the leading company. After the remarks by Mr Göhringer, a very small portion of the tunnels to be created under compressed air took place so that this method of construction could be evaluated as a special feature.

It was possible to get Ms Sabine Volz from the Rhine Brothers Association of Karlsruhe, successful World Cup champion in kayaking, as the tunnel godmother, who set up the sacred statue of St. Barbara at the portal of the pressure lock.

The headwork will start in the next few days.