Atkins’ tunnels

A selection of our tunnelling projects around the world

Atkins has been working on tunnelling projects since 1961. Our first tunnelling

project was completing the tunnel and station designs for a major extension of the

Toronto Subway in Canada (which also happened to be Atkins’ first ever project in

North America).

In total, we’ve been involved in over 780km of tunnelling projects around the

world.

In this slideshow, you’ll find a selection of some of the tunnelling projects Atkins

has worked on.

Crossrail (tunnel design)

London, UK

Atkins was awarded the architectural component

contract for all the stations and associated

structures on the Crossrail project. Crossrail is a

new railway under construction beneath London

and through the south-east of England; it comprises

21km of twin bore tunnels along its 118 km route.

All the central London tunnels will be connected by

the first quarter of 2015, with Crossrail scheduled to

be fully operational by 2018.

Read more >

Crossrail (asset protection)

London, UK

The Crossrail project includes upgrades to 28 existing

surface stations and construction of nine new

underground stations in London. The works in the central

area comprise the excavation of below ground ticket

halls, running tunnels, station platform tunnels and

access passages with links to existing London

Underground stations. Atkins' engineers have been

responsible for the damage assessment and the design

of mitigation to protect 3rd party assets from settlement

induced damage.

Read more >

Belfast Sewers

Belfast, UK

Atkins provided project management, planning,

preliminary design, contract supervision and

administration to improve water quality in the River

Lagan. The project will reduce flood risk in the area

and rehabilitate and upgrade the Victorian sewer

system in Belfast. The scale of the project is

immense, including the construction of 9.5km of

tunnels, 21 access shafts and a pumping station

housed in Belfast's deepest and largest excavation.

Read more >

Channel Tunnel

Kent, UK / Calais, France

The Channel Tunnel is a 50.5km rail tunnel linking

Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom, with

Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais in northern France, beneath

the English Channel. The tunnel has the longest

undersea portion of any tunnel in the world. Atkins

was appointed “Maître d’Oeuvre” (independent

engineering project manager) in 1980, in a joint

venture with French engineering consultancy SETEC,

providing supervision and project management for the

design and construction of all aspects of the work.

Read more >

A3 Hindhead Bypass

Hindhead, UK

The A3 bypass at Hindhead was constructed to

improve road safety, reduce congestion and improve

air quality. Running beneath Devil's Punch Bowl, a site

of Special Scientific Interest, the new dual carriageway

includes the longest non-estuary underpass in the UK

– 1.83km of twin bored tunnels. The Highways Agency

commissioned Atkins for design, geotechnical advice,

site supervision, tender and contract documentation,

noise and air quality assessments, and expert witness

services.

Read more >

Bond Street Station

London, UK

The Bond Street Station Upgrade project is a large,

complex, urban infrastructure project delivered in a

location with numerous site constraints (construction

activity on and around Oxford Street, Europe’s busiest

street), and a significant number of influential and

sensitive stakeholders. Atkins has been involved with

the project since 2007 and has provided a multidiscipline

design service with lead designers for the tunnelling,

architectural, station planning and mechanical, electrical

and public health (MEP) design elements. Completion of

the construction works is due in 2017.

Read more >

Heathrow Airport Tunnels

London, UK

On behalf of Heathrow Airport Ltd, Atkins has

assessed options for the upgrade of fire and life

safety systems in two major road tunnels at

Heathrow Airport, the third busiest airport in the

world by total passenger traffic. Atkins adopted a

performance-based design approach with detailed

risk analysis to determine the optimum tunnel safety

upgrade provisions for fire protection, evacuation

and ventilation systems.

Read more >

Silvertown Tunnel

London, UK

Transport for London is developing a new river

crossing in East London to ease the strain on the

existing crossings. The proposed Silvertown Tunnel

is a new road tunnel between Silvertown and North

Greenwich. This would relieve congestion at the

Blackwall Tunnel by providing an alternative route

between the Royal Docks, Isle of Dogs, Lower Lea

Valley and Greenwich Peninsula. Atkins has been

commissioned to carry out the reference design for

the tunnel.

Read more >

CERN AWAKE Adit

Switzerland

Atkins is providing tunnelling services for an adit constructed

at the world’s largest scientific experimental complex at

CERN, close to the Swiss-French border. This project

comprised the adit design and tender construction drawings,

with advice on award of the construction contract; followed by

site support during construction. Some aspects of the work

had to be to laboratory standards and there were strict dust

control measures because of the client’s scientific equipment.

Spoil was checked for radiation before disposal at landfill.

CERN’s specification included design requirements for

seismic loading and also for fire precautions.

Read more >

Gautrain Rapid Rail Link

Gauteng, South Africa

Atkins delivered three major design packages for

the Gautrain in South Africa - the continent’s first

high speed rail system. The 80km of railway link

Johannesburg, Pretoria, Sandton and OR Tambo

International Airport. Atkins’ innovative low carbon

cooling system alleviated the need to air condition

public spaces within the underground stations,

representing a carbon emissions saving of 9,200

tonnes per annum. Gautrain opened to the public in

June 2012.

Read more >

Dubai Metro

Dubai, UAE

Atkins provided full multidisciplinary design and

management of the civil works on Dubai Metro

which included geotechnical and site

investigations, bored tunnels and viaducts and

bridges. The first line of the Dubai Metro opened

to the public in September 2009. It is the longest

automated, driverless system in the world and has

eased traffic congestion by improving mobility

throughout Dubai.

Read more >

Express Rail Link

China / Hong Kong

The Express Rail Link will be a dedicated high

speed railway corridor through Hong Kong

connecting to the high speed rail network in

Mainland China. Trains on the Hong Kong section

are intended to operate at speeds of up to 200kph.

The project includes challenging sections of TBM

driven tunnelling under existing developments

requiring strict control of ground movements and

extensive instrumentation and monitoring. The

bored tunnels also had to pass directly under the

existing Tsuen Wan MTR Line with limited

separation.

Read more >

Harbour Area Treatment

Scheme

Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

The Harbour Area Treatment Scheme system will

collect and convey sewage along the shoreline of

Hong Kong Island to the treatment works before

final disposal into the western harbour. Atkins was

employed to be the consultant firm for the

geotechnical and structural elements of the

contractor’s design. The scheme is one of the

largest ever sewerage infrastructure projects in

Hong Kong.

Read more >

West Island Line

Hong Kong

Atkins (in a joint venture) is the lead consultant for

the detailed design of this 3km section of the

extension to the MTRC West Island Line. There

are two stations at Sai Ying Pun and University,

both of which will be constructed in cavern. Much

of the tunnelling work is very challenging as it

involves tunnelling in soft ground under existing

buildings in close proximity to their foundations.

Read more >

Central Wanchai Bypass

Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

Atkins has worked on the construction of an

underground box structure beneath the Victoria

Harbour on the Hong Kong Island. When this HK$5.5

billion project is completed, it will form part of the

underpass linking Central and North Point. The major

scope of Atkins’ work includes the design of the

temporary sea walls and reclamation with a total area

of 51,000m2, and the design of the excavation method

and sequence for constructing the two sections of

tunnel box structures with a total length of 710m.

Read more >

Shatin to Central Link

Hong Kong

Atkins is playing a key role on the Shatin to Central

Link of Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway, which

forms part of the link between Hong Kong Island and

Mainland China. We’ve been appointed lead

consultant for the preliminary design studies on the

North-South Corridor and sub-consultant on

preliminary design of the East-West Corridor. We are

also responsible for the detailed design of the tunnels

associated with Hung Hom Station. A key challenge

for the station has been developing an efficient

interchange with existing and planned lines and

working in and around an operating railway.

Read more >

Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary

Control Point

Hong Kong

This project is one of the major construction contracts

for a new cross-boundary connection in Hong Kong. It

will provide a strategic and direct new transport link to

serve the cross-boundary goods vehicles and

passengers travelling between the northeast New

Territories and Shenzhen East on Mainland China.

Atkins is the design consultant for the 4.8km long dual

two-lane tunnel.

Read more >

Tuen Mun – Chek Lap Kok Link

Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

Atkins is the independent design checker for the

Tuen Mun – Chek Lap Kok Link northern

connection subsea tunnel section. The project

involves construction of 4.5km of dual 2-lane

carriageways under the seabed to connect the

Tuen Mun area and the Hong Kong Boundary

Crossing Facilities adjacent to the Hong Kong

International Airport.

Read more >

Courtesy of Edward Kraemer & Sons

I-70 Twin Tunnels

Colorado, North America

Atkins provided construction management on the

project to widen eastbound Interstate 70 to

accommodate three traffic lanes, as well as

building a new bridge and 1.6 miles of retaining

walls. I-70 is one of the nation’s major east-west

transportation corridors, carrying high volumes of

commuter traffic and the $60 million project is the

result of more than ten years of environmental

study by the Colorado Department of

Transportation.

Read more >

Brightwater

Washington, North America

The Brightwater Tunnel is part of a sanitary sewer

system upgrade to serve portions of King County,

Washington. Atkins’ geospatial professionals provided

high-order horizontal and vertical tunnel control to

accurately determine the location in three dimensions,

as well as pitch and roll of the tunnel front, mid, and

tail shields. The project required data to an accuracy of

2 inches over 8 miles of tunnels, which Atkins

successfully accomplished without a direct connection

to the surface.

Read more >

Find out more…

http://www.atkinsglobal.com/en-GB/group/sectors-and-services/services/tunnelling-and-underground-space