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Lecture

Highway 401 and 409 rail tunnel project, Toronto

Event organised by The British Tunnelling Society

Date
19 October 2023
Time

This event has now ended

Overview

This presentation will be delivered jointly by representatives from Dr. Sauer & Partners and STRABAG AG. The presentation will overview the project procurement, design and execution of the project.

The 180m long Highway 401/409 rail tunnel tunnels were excavated underneath North America’s busiest highway to increase the capacity of the existing rail corridor. The design, build and finance (DBF) contract was awarded in December 2017 to Toronto Tunnel Partners (TTP).

The final solution utilised two 10m high and 8.5m wide mined tunnels, fully pre-supported by 800mm diameter steel pipes installed from the two portals and an intermediate shaft.

This uniquely challenging project saw the new tunnels being excavated parallel to and less than 2m away from the existing tunnel and 2.5 to 4m below the 401/409 highways, whilst both assets remained operational throughout the project execution. The initial linings of the tunnels were almost in contact to fit inside the available corridor. The level of complexity of the project was enhanced by the very low mechanical properties of the soil and the numerous encountered obstructions.

Sponsored by:

Dr. Sauer & Partners

Dr. Sauer & Partners

Dr. Sauer & Partners is an independent consultancy specialised in providing the full range of design and construction management services for tunnels, shafts and caverns. Dr. Sauer & Partners delivers innovative, cost-effective and environmentally aware designs.

Organised by

British Tunnelling Society

British Tunnelling Society

The BTS is a dynamic group of tunnelling professionals sharing knowledge within the industry.

Speakers

Dr. Angelos Gakis

Dr. Angelos Gakis

Dr. Sauer & Partners

head of geotechnics

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Dr. Angelos Gakis

Angelos’ academic background includes 5-year diploma (BSc and MSc) and a PhD in civil engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and a MSc in Soil Mechanics and Environmental Geotechnics from London Imperial College. He is a chartered civil engineer in the UK. His working experience includes about 20 years of geotechnical and tunnelling design and site supervision, in both urban and rural environments.

Since 2011 he has been working with Dr. Sauer and Partners in the U.K., on major UK and international projects, and in 2019 he relocated to the Salzburg office. Major projects he has been involved in holding senior roles include among others, Crossrail 1 and 2 UK, Eglinton Light Rail Toronto, Metro M2 Tel Aviv.

Thomas Schwind

Thomas Schwind

Dr. Sauer & Partners

technical director & partner

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Thomas Schwind

Thomas Schwind has more than 20 years of experience as a geotechnical/tunnel engineer on international highway, mass transit and hydropower projects. He has held positions ranging from field engineer to expert witness and has carried out tunnel field inspections. During his career he has gained experience in evaluating ground conditions, designing sprayed concrete lining (SCL) structures, geotechnical engineering and performing numerical analysis.

Mr. Schwind has produced detailed designs, carried out design reviews and checks and provided construction support services for a variety of projects. These include road and railway tunnels in rock; metro running tunnels, station schemes, tunnel crossings and bifurcations in soft ground; light rail/bus tunnels in soft ground utilising ground freezing under shallow cover and surface structures; large span road tunnels in water saturated soft ground under shallow cover and cut-and-cover structures. He also has experience in the rehabilitation of existing tunnels.

He is currently active as the technical director for SCL Design for the HS2 Euston Station project in the UK as well as for the pump storage development in Israel.