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Engineers Solve Istanbul’s Ages-old Tunnel Conundrum
United Kingdom Architecture News - Jun 06, 2014 - 11:06 2990 views
Engineers in Turkey have managed to successfully construct a tunnel beneath the Bosphorus Strait – a feat which defied the most ingenious minds of antiquity.
While building a tunnel beneath the Bosphorus Strait of today’s Turkey has long been the ambition of emperors and sultans throughout history, it is only now in the early 21st century that engineering technology has finally developed to the point where such an epic project can become a reality.
The new 13-kilometre Marmaray tunnel, which runs below the Bosphorus Strait between the Kazlicesme and Ayrilikcesme stations in Istanbul, may be the final realisation of a dream cherished by Roman and Turkish rulers for many centuries, yet it took engineers from Siemens only two months to complete once work began in earnest.
Following a delay of four years in the commencement of construction due to the discovery of Byzantine archaeological remains in the excavated soil, the Siemens team was given just six months by officials last year to finish the first phase of the project.
That brief schedule was tightened even further to a mere two months due to the government’s desire for the Marmaray tunnel to be up and running by the 90th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey.
“That was a challenge, but we met it successfully,” said Javier Raposo of Siemens Rail Automation in Istanbul.
Construction of the tunnel was hugely challenging and complex given the huge volume of passenger traffic expected, as well as the susceptibility of the area to heavy earthquakes.
Trains run through the tunnel at two-minute intervals in order to maintain a passenger flow of around 75,000 people per hour when operating at maximum capacity – the equivalent of one million commuters in a single day.
This rapid-fire rate of movement was achieved via the deployed of a “moving block system,” comprised of several sophisticated systems for the comprehensive signalling and control of all vehicles. The system is capable of gathering data on the velocity and location of each individual train via small sensor plates embedded in the tracks, coordinating the movements of the entire fleet of vehicles, and providing reciprocal feedback on the speeds at which each of them are permitted to travel at which segments of the tunnel....Continue Reading
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