City centre concrete from Cemex
13 February 2014
More than 350,000m3 of specialty ready-mix concretes have been supplied by Cemex in Germany for a large-scale underground railway project in the heart of the German city of Leipzig.
The long-awaited City-Tunnel Leipzig project involved the construction of a two-ramp entry section, two parallel shield-driven tunnels – each approximately 1.5km in length – four underground stations, and an open cut exit to the existing track system.
The project was designed as the centrepiece of the reorganisation of the greater Leipzig rail system, providing a direct link between Leipzig’s main station – one of the largest in Europe – and the southern part of the city.
Eric Wittman, president of Cemex in Germany, said, “Cemex is incredibly proud to have been a part of this landmark project for the city of Leipzig. We expect the City-Tunnel to facilitate the commutes for millions of residents and visitors to Leipzig for generations to come.”
As well as more than 350,000m3 of ready-mix concrete, the project was said to have required an array of specialty concrete solutions. These included underwater concrete for the tunnel floors, auger pile concrete, and diaphragm wall concrete.
There was also steel-fabric air-placed concrete, structural concrete, and self-compacting exposed concrete, as well as the extensive use of architectural concrete at the four underground stations.
Cemex said that supplying multiple construction sites through city traffic posed major logistical challenges. Project planners often scheduled work for completion at night. At times, multiple large-scale pours of up to 1,000m3 were required every day at various individual sites.
At one point, Cemex steadily supplied the construction site at the main station in the city centre with 5,000m3 of underwater concrete in three days at the height of the Christmas shopping season.
