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Leipzig City Tunnel

The Leipzig City Tunnel project is the central element for revamping the railway network in the greater Leipzig area. It creates a connection between the two Leipzig terminal stations - Hauptbahnhof and Bayerischer Bahnhof. The underground twin- tube link - each tube 1,438 m long - in the centre of Leipzig - represents the key to this project. It was produced with a single shell by a 9 m diameter hydro-shield. The geological conditions in the Leipzig subsoil are most inhomogeneous. Altogether 10 different geological layers were bored through, which are of quaternary and tertiary origin. Mainly soft ground is to be encountered, which possesses both cohesive and mixed-grain zones as well as non-cohesive ones. The entire drive was executed in groundwater given a maximum groundwater level of roughly 18 m above the tunnel floor. The compensation grouting method (CGV) was applied for actively securing buildings in the vicinity of the Forecast settlement trough. The elevation fields were established on the basis of the Forecast settlement trough. Then horizontal drilling was undertaken from previously produced shafts for accommodating the steel sleeve pipes. The required elevations for the buildings were arrived at by means of multiple compensation injections. These measures were controlled by an extremely accurate pressure hose system. Towards this end more than 1,300 sensors were installed in 31 buildings. The shield drive began on January 15th, 2007 at the Bayerischer Bahnhof for the eastern tube and was concluded with the production of the western one on October 31st, 2008. The excavation pits for the four underground stations were produced using cut-and-cover with the exception of the central section of the Hauptbahnhof Station. For setting up the pit side walls for the central section of the stop at the Hauptbahnhof over a distance of approx. 80 m in each case, frozen wall zones were produced applying the brine coolant principle. For this purpose two ancillary headings with 3.0 m external diameter were driven parallel to the future underground stop by means of pipe jacking. From them vertical and inclined bores were created for accommodating the freezing pipes. The step-by-step excavation below the station building took place protected by the two frozen wall zones combined with a back-anchored shotcrete outer shell. The non-intersecting route connections in the south and north were produced by trough, tunnel and flying junction structures.

 

  • Country: Germany
  • Region: Saxony
  • Tunnel utilization: Traffic
  • Type of utilization: 2 single-track tubes with S-Bahn and regional traffic (mainline traffic optional)
  • Client: Free State of Saxony, Deutsche Bahn AG
  • Realisation of Project: DEGES Deutsche Einheit Fernstraßenplanungs- und -bau GmbH • DB ProjektBau GmbH
  • Consulting Engineer: DE-Consult, Schüßler-Plan, Ingenieurbüro Vössing GmbH
  • Test engineer: Prof. Duddeck und Partner GmbH
  • Construction monitoring: Ingenieurbüro Vössing GmbH, Spiekermann GmbH, ILF Beratende Ingenieure ZT GmbH
  • Contractor: Dywidag Bau GmbH, Alpine Bau Deutschland AG, Oevermann GmbH & Co. KG, Grund-und Sonderbau GmbH, Strabag AG, Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG
  • Main construction method: Trenchless
  • Type of excavation: Shield machine (SM)/Drill-and-blast
  • Lining: Reinforced concrete segments/Shotcrete
  • No. of tubes: 2
  • Tunnel total length: 5279 m (Project), 4010 m (Tunnel with ramps), 2 x 1438 m (Shield machine)
  • Contract Volume: 572 mill. Euro
  • Construction start/end: 2006-2010 (roughwork)
  • Opening: 2012/2013 (coinciding with change of timetable)