Red Line Tel Aviv: Planning and Construction of the TBM Tunnels of the Eastern Section (Part 1)

Credit/Quelle: WBI GmbH

1 Red Line Tel Aviv, plan and typical cross section for the TBM-tunnels of the eastern section

Credit/Quelle: WBI GmbH

2 Section Depot portal – Em Hamoshavot Station, geological longitudinal section

Credit/Quelle: WBI GmbH

3 Section Aharonovitz Station – Ben Gurion Station, geological longitudinal section

Credit/Quelle: WBI GmbH

4 Cores taken from drillings in Kurkar

Credit/Quelle: WBI GmbH

5 TBM S1027 inside Em Hamoshavot Station (left) and view into tunnel at Depot Portal (right)

Credit/Quelle: WBI GmbH

6 FE-analyses for dimensioning of the segmental lining, FE-mesh, example

Credit/Quelle: WBI GmbH

7 Change of vertical stresses in the ground as a consequence
of heading the second tube

Credit/Quelle: WBI GmbH

8 Ovalization of the segmental ring and increase of stresses in the longitudinal joint 5 as a consequence of heading the second tube

Credit/Quelle: WBI GmbH

9 View towards the tunnels at Depot portal

Credit/Quelle: WBI GmbH

10 Undercrossing the railway line west of Depot portal, plan

Credit/Quelle: WBI GmbH

The Red Line is the first line of the Tel Aviv urban railway. 2 x 2.7 km tunnels were driven using two EPB tunnel boring machines (EPBs) from Herrenknecht for the eastern section of the Red Line. It is being built by a joint venture comprising the Israeli construction company Danya Cebus and the Chinese contractor CCECC. The WBI GmbH carried out the detailed design and accompanied construction activities on behalf of the consortium. This report provides an overview of the project and the ground conditions. Furthermore, the planning, lab tests and findings from executing the TBM drives from the Depot portal to Ben Gurion Station are described.

1 Introduction

The Red Line represents the first line of Tel Aviv’s twin-track urban light railway. The twin-track light rail line starts to the south of Jaffa close to the coast, runs in a north-easterly direction through Tel Aviv and then eastwards along Jabotinsky Road through Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak until reaching Petach Tikva [1]. Along the #4 motorway it links up towards the north with the Depot that is also under construction. Roughly 11 km of the altogether 24 km long route run in tunnels. Construction work was commissioned in two sections in 2015 and 2016. The JV Danya Cebus/CCECC...