Primed for rental
01 May 2008
Risk of flooding during construction of a 1,5 km long road tunnel in Gothenburg, Sweden is being eased through a rental agreement between the main contractor and pump specialist ABS. Vägverket Production AB is due to complete work on the € 340 million Götatunneln in 2006 and the tunnel will carry up to 65000 vehicles per day, significantly reducing city centre congestion.
The tunnel is being blasting through rock 30 m below ground level and, although it is being sealed to prevent long term groundwater leaks, pumps supplied by ABS are being used to control inflow during construction. The route takes the tunnel below the city's harbour and, according to Vägverket Production foreman Per Bollstad, this meant that the contractor needed more pump capacity to ensure it was prepared for the “worst case scenario”.
“Blasting under the actual harbour channel was one of the most critical phases of the project,”he said. “There was a high risk of water from the channel flooding into the tunnel and even a short pump stoppage would be unacceptable.”During this phase of the project, ABS increased the number of its J series submersible drainage pumps available on site so that there were three pumps on standby to back up each in use.
“Renting pumps makes planning larger projects easier and more cost effective as you can just rent the ones you need at any particular point,”said Mr Bollstad. “ABS's J series pumps are fairly small and lightweight which makes them perfect for the rapid on/off demands of a tunnel project.”