Institution news
The Germany Group, which included 14 members of the Institution, met on Friday 18 November 2016 to visit the Stuttgart 21 rail project and the tunnel boring machine manufacturer Herrenknecht in Schwanau. The visit was organised by Hamish Douglas and the German Group Chair, Andy Storer.
Stuttgart 21 consists of two projects: 'S21 – reconstructing the Stuttgart rail node' and 'NBL – new build of the Wendlingen to Ulm line'. The aim of the former is to transform the existing terminus station into a through station 12m underground, thereby connecting Stuttgart to the European high-speed rail network from Paris to Budapest and freeing up valuable real estate. The latter project will cut travelling time from Stuttgart to Ulm in half, to just 28 minutes. Instead of the current track next to the river through built-up areas in the Filstal, with speed restrictions of 70 km/h, the new route, which passes through 20 tunnels, is designed for maximum speeds of 250 km/h.
Stuttgart 21 was first presented to the public in 1994 and it is expected to be completed in 2019. The project has proved hugely controversial. Those with long memories may remember Professor Gerhard Heimerl, who came up with the scheme, when the project was first announced, enthusiastically stating on television that it would hardly cost anything because of the 100 hectares of prime building land which would become available in the cramped heart of the city.
By the time construction finally got underway in 2010, costs were estimated at four billion euros but these have since risen to 6.8 billion euros and are expected to rise further still. Whereas the question of who will end up paying for the cost overrun – perhaps inevitable with this kind of project – will rumble on, the technical achievement of the project, as presented to the Group, and its significance for years to come seems beyond dispute.
At lunchtime, the one-and-a-half-hour journey from Stuttgart to Herrenknecht AG in Schwanau passed quickly with a welcome packed lunch and animated discussions. Herrenknecht, with some 5,000 employees, is one of the typical owner-run engineering businesses which are the backbone of the German economy. However its achievements in just 35 years are outstanding in that it has become the worldwide market leader in tunnelling technology.
The scale of Herrenknecht AG's operation was brought home by a state-of-the-art animated display wall. By touching any one of the hundreds of different pictures, all the details of that particular project, including the key facts, photos and type of boring equipment, were brought up on the wall. For example, no less than eight Herrenknecht tunnel machines (six Earth Pressure Balance Shields & two Mixshields) are being used by three consortia for the high-speed Crossrail project in London.
For the 10km long Filder Tunnel near Stuttgart, a 10.82 diameter multi-mode tunnel boring machine (TBM) is being used. It is followed by a TBM for the Bosslertunnel and two for the so-called Albvorlandtunnel (all EPB-Shields), both part of the section towards Ulm. The largest boring machines made to date are up to 19m in diameter; an arch of this size has been placed in front of the Finance Building to help visitors visualise the scale of such equipment.
After a tour of some of the production shops at Herrenknecht and closer inspection of various TBMs currently under construction in the open air, the visit ended with some people returning on the coach to Stuttgart while others chose to stay on in the Baden region over the weekend to enjoy the delights of this wine growing area.
Find out more about the Germany Group's events and activities by visiting Germany's Near You pages.