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The fourth ITA Tunnelling Awards was organized together with the CTUC conference in Chuzhou, China, on 7 November 2018. „The ITA Tunnelling Awards 2018 is a unique conference, focussing on and sharing the yearly major achievements in our tunnelling industry, including the remarkable projects, technical innovations, innovative underground space concepts and safety initiatives as well as excellent young tunnellers and lifetime achievement“, Jenny Jinxiu Yan, ITA Vice president and chair of the ITA Tunnelling Awards 2018 Committee, welcomed the audience waiting for the announcement of the Award winners.

The 3rd Forum on Injection Technology, which attracted 220 participants on November 21 and 22, 2018 in Cologne was a huge success – involving a series of lectures as well as networking and a get-together for the industry. On both days of the Forum at the Maternushaus, a lively exchange of views among experts took place, in the lecture hall, at the exhibitions staged by the sponsor companies as well as at the grand gala evening held for all those taking part. The article also features a short film of the "Forum Injektionstechnik 2018" (the interviews are available in German language only).

During the last ten years, the presentation of the COSUF Award Winner has been one of the highlights of the ITA COSUF meetings. The prestigious award is granted to a student, young professional or researcher in the field of operational safety or security of underground facilities. “Many of the previous winners have taken job positions in organisations that are working on operational safety of underground facilities. This is a good stimulation to continue to launch the award,” said Ben van den Horn, ITA COSUF General Secretary, commenting the steering board decision to award the 2019 COSUF prize.

Tough working conditions prevail in tunnelling. The demands posed on technical equipment are correspondingly high, as e.g. gears, which must reliably cater for movement in various machines. In tunnel boring machines (TBMs) planetary gears must withstand strong vibrations, impacts, high temperatures and pronounced external pressure. These powerful gears are also applied in building cranes, drilling rigs, cutters, excavators, pumps or tracked vehicles.

From May 3–9, 2019, the World Tunnel Congress will take place in the South-Italian city of Naples. On May 9, the final day of the congress, participants will have the opportunity of joining technical visits to underground construction sites and can choose one of four interesting destinations ...

The fourth tunnel drive of the tunnel boring machine (TBM) „SUSE“ started in November 2018. Before that, the 120 m long machine had to be dismantled into seven pieces, which then were turned one by one underground. This article contains a short video clip of the unusual turning manoeuvre, made by the DB Projekt Stuttgart–Ulm GmbH.

The 5th Rock Mechanics & Tunneling Day on 23 May 2019 will be organized by WBI Consulting Engineers together with the German Railway (DB) Organization for the Project Stuttgart–Ulm, DB Netze and the civil engineering section of the Engineering Association of Württemberg.