Lovat TBM Starts Canada Line in VancouverA Lovat TBM, nicknamed 'Sweet Leilani', was launched with champagne on 10th June, 2006 at an official ceremony at the future False Creek South station at the south end of the Cambie Street Bridge on the future Canada Line in Vancouver. The machine will dig two 2.5 km tunnels to a maximum depth of 30 metres, as part of the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver rail line. The Canada Line will help reduce urban congestion and related pollution. When completed, the Canada Line will make the movement of residents and visitors during the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics more efficient. In Vancouver, the Canada Line will be underground from Waterfront station to 64th Avenue. 75% of the tunnel will be built by cut-and-cover method. The remaining section of the tunnel will be built as twin-bored tunnels using the TBM. The TBM will bore underground from the False Creek South station site at 2nd/6th Avenues under False Creek to Davie Street in downtown Vancouver, west under Davie Street, turning north under Granville Street, and north along Granville Street to Dunsmuir Street in downtown Vancouver. Drilling at a rate of 10 metres per day, the TBM is anticipated to complete its first bore by April 2007. The second tube is anticipated for June 2007-March 2008.The SNC-Lavalin / SELI JV will operate the 440-tonne 6 m-diameter EPB TBM through sandstone and glacial till under downtown Vancouver and False Creek (a tidal basin with a 4 m tidal range causing twice daily fluctuations in EPB pressures). The cutting head of the TBM is open type, powered by a Lovat standard variable frequency drive (1,200 kW). Lovat is supplying a dressing of 43 cm disc cutters. To cope with the varied geotechnical conditions (sandstone, granitic dykes and glacial till), a two-stage ground conditioning system (comprising of foam and polymer) will be used. Additionally, a bentonite ground-loss replacement system will be used for fine control of EPB pressure. As the TBM advances, precast concrete segments are placed to form the lining of the tunnel. These steel reinforced concrete lining segments will permanently support the tunnel. Each ring has five segments plus a keystone, 1.4 m in arc length, making the tunnel 5.3 m in internal diameter. The rings are then grouted with concrete. Approximately 20,000 concrete lining segments, prefabricated off site in Nanaimo, British Columbia, are needed for the two tunnels. The concrete lining segments are built in a manufacturing plant under controlled conditions to optimize quality and durability. During boring, the excavated material is removed using a conveyor system that dumps the material into rail cars. The excavated material will be removed from the tunnel on average 7-8 times per day. Click here and ca/24.The TBM will bore one of two tunnels in a northerly direction to Davie Street, where the Yaletown-Roundhouse station will be located, and to Granville Street where Vancouver City Centre station (Robson) and Waterfront station will be located. Once the first pass of the TBM is complete, it will be brought aboveground and returned to the 2nd Avenue work site in preparation for the second drive. Visit www.lovat.com, www.selitunnel.com or www.selitecnologie.com and www.ravprapidtransit.com or www.canadaline.ca 27/06.