ES Rubber gaskets are being used in Poland to ensure a leak-free tunnel on an important new highway tunnel beneath one of the country’s major rivers.

The 10 km-long Slowacki Route will link Lech Walesa airport in Gdansk to both the deepwater harbour and the motorway to Warsaw, enhancing the city’s position as a major transportation hub in the region. The new connection passes under the Vistula River in a 1.4 km-long twin tunnel designed to accommodate two lanes of traffic apiece. A major part of the crossing comprises 1.1 km-long tunnels being driven by Spanish contractor OHL using a 12.56 m-diameter Herrenknecht Mixshield. These will be equipped with seven crosspassages for emergency use.

The TBM will resist up to 4 bar pressure expected at certain points under the river with only 8 m cover. It will also have to manage four percent gradients at each end of the drives. The tunnels are being lined with 1,090 rings of 6+1 segments equipped with ES Tunnelflex rubber gaskets tested to 7 bar.

These gaskets have 90-degree soft corners to improve water tightness, a system that has already been used successfully on two sections of the Tel Aviv to Jerusalem high-speed railway, and in the Diabolo railway tunnels at Zaventem airport in Brussels on the new high-speed railway line from Brussels to Antwerp.

ES Rubber is based at Kibbutz Ein Shemer, MP Hefer 38816, Israel and can be contacted at tel +972 4 637 1037, e-mail export@esrubber.com, or  +49 174 6884223.

Read the Gdansk report and visit www.esrubber.com. 19/13.