Hey there, fellow adventurers and urban enthusiasts! I’m here to share with you my incredible experience at the ITACUS-ISOCARP YPP Gdansk 2023 workshop. Let me take you on a journey filled with learning, exploration, and lots of fun!
It all started on 14th April 2023 when I embarked on my first international trip from Mumbai to Gdansk. The excitement was coursing through my veins as I arrived at my destination the next day, around 15:00.
Although the program was set to begin on 17th April, I decided to arrive a couple of days early to immerse myself in the beauty of Gdansk. Upon arrival, I wasted no time and headed straight to the city center, where I indulged in some amazing Polish cuisine. As a pure vegetarian, I was relieved to find plenty of options to satisfy my taste buds.
On 15th April, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Marcel ‘t Hart, one of the coordinator of the workshop, Bahaa Kalfouni, a PhD student and our local partner. Accompanied by Alice Borsari, Elisa Vasilu, Mariana Putzolu and Onur Inal, we enjoyed a delightful lunch and Bahaa treated us to an “Unofficial” city tour.
We explored the hidden gems of Gdansk, soaking in the vibrant culture and architectural wonders. It was a fantastic way to acquaint ourselves with the city.
Most of the Young Planning Professionals (YPPs) arrived on 16th April, a Sunday. We had a dinner get-together, where we mingled and got to know each other. It was a perfect opportunity to interact with fellow participants and build connections.
The much-anticipated first day of the workshop, 17th April, kicked off with introductions. We were a diverse group of 21 participants, hailing from various backgrounds such as civil engineering, geomatic engineering, urban planning, city planning, town planning, and architecture.
Then we had a city tour guided by our local guide Piotr Lorens, Pitor Czyz (City Architect) and Paulina Bone.
After the city tour our coordinators wasted no time in immersing us in the workshop activities. To get our creative juices flowing, we were given a task to create something out of straws, sticks, and rubber bands. It turned out to be a fun group activity that unleashed our imaginative side.
Following the “Fun” group activity, we were divided into four teams, carefully crafted to bring together individuals with diverse backgrounds. The coordinators shared study materials with us, which would be crucial for our brainstorming sessions. We had the remainder of the day to come up with ideas and proposals, which we would present the following day.
The second day began with each group presenting their proposals for the redevelopment of the northern region of Gdansk City Centre, with a special focus on public spaces connected to the Popiełuszki street extension tunneling project.
Marcel enlightened us on the unique concept of immersed tube tunnelling, which was a revelation for me as a tunnel engineer who has worked on Tunnels excavated conventionally or by the means of tunnel boring machines (TBM’s).
In the evening, we embarked on a “Night” tour of the city, further deepening our understanding of its essence and character.
The third and fourth days passed by in a whirlwind, with all the groups refining their concepts and ideas with valuable inputs from the supervisors, co-ordinators and guides.
These days were mentally demanding, but the passion and dedication of everyone involved kept us going.
And then came the last day, the D-day! All the groups had the opportunity to present their final proposals to the guides and coordinators. The presentations were outstanding, showcasing the collective effort and brilliance of our teams.
In the afternoon, we made minor updates based on feedback before the final presentation to the city council.
In the evening, amidst a celebratory atmosphere, we had a group photo session.
We had final dinner where participation certificates were distributed. It was an emotional moment as we bid farewell to those departing the next day.
But for those of us staying a little longer, the night was young, and the adventure continued. After five days of hard work, we let loose and partied hard on the last night. It was a fitting end to an amazing workshop filled with personal growth, friendship, and unforgettable memories.
Looking back on my ITACUS-ISOCARP YPP Gdansk 2023 workshop experience, I feel immensely grateful for the opportunity to be part of such a remarkable event. The knowledge gained, connections formed, and the sheer joy of exploring a new city made this journey one for the books. I will carry the lessons learned and the friendships made throughout my career as an urban enthusiast. Until the next adventure, cheers!
I am immensely proud of the accomplishments of our team after an intense five-day period, where we presented solutions for the redevelopment of the northern region of Gdansk City Centre. I want to express my heartfelt thanks to our supervisors, Petr Salak, Rosanne Verloop, Zeynep Gunay, and Rolf Schuett, for their valuable input and feedback. I also want to acknowledge the essential support and information provided by our local coordinators, Prof. Piotr Lorens, Piotr Czyz, Paulina Bone, and Bahaa Kalfouni, about the city.
Furthermore, I am grateful to our coordinators, Marcel ‘t Hart and Sohini Maiti, for their unwavering support throughout the program, as well as the entire Gdansk YPP team. To Agnieszka Melerska, Ahmed Adham, Alice Borsari, Andraž Podvez, Donia Elhoshy, Edmore Mutsaa, Elisa Vasiliu, Juan David Salazar, Konstantinos Karantzoulis, Korzay Damar, Kristina Golubenko, Lerato Moshoeshoe, Madina Zhapekova, Marteen Demarsin, Mattia Petrini, Onur Inal, Revşen Özdemir, Ringo Rocha Rebouças, Sara Biancifiori, and Viktoria Khokhlova, I would like to express my deep gratitude for their dedicated efforts.
Contributed by: Mr. Chiranjib Sarkar (Senior Structural Engineer – AECOM)
Figure 1 TAI young members at site
As a part of TAIym activity, young engineers associated with the organization visited Kolkata metro’s most focused project “Tunnelling below River Ganga” in the month of November 2021. AECOM who is the main partner in KMRCL’s Line 2 Underground corridor general consultant consortia made this site visit possible. The contract is divided into two packages, namely UG01 and UG02. We visited UG01 package, specifically the Howrah Underground Station and the connecting tube that runs beneath the Ganga.
It was a lovely morning, and the climate was pleasant. After arriving at the contractor’s project site office (TTAJV-Transtonnelstroy AFCONS JV), we were given safety PPE training before being introduced to the project crew. Mr. Sanniv Banerjee, who previously worked as the Design Manager for AFCONS in that project team, led our site visit team. The contractor of Kolkata Metro Underground package UG1 is Transtonnelstroy – AFCONS Joint Venture, according to project information. The UG01 contract package includes 3.7 kilometres of metro tunnels and three underground stations: Howrah Maidan Station, Howrah Station, and Mahakaran Station.
Figure 2 Package UG01 Location Plan
We began our site visit at the Howrah underground metro station, then proceeded to the tunnel via the station platform and track level. We proceed through the tunnel for almost 700 metres, including the tunnel beneath the Ganga River, the cross passage, and the deepest Vent Shaft (40 metres).
Figure 3 Vent Shaft 40m deep
The Howrah metro station is a four-level underground metro station. We entered the station through the Howrah platform number 14 area and walked through to the station’s front side. Civil construction work at the station had previously been completed and was primarily being completed at the time, although electrification and service work were still underway. We had a good time interacting with the project team on site. During the visit we had a brief discussion with the project team about site concerns, challenges, and much more.
Figure 4 Commuters Entrance To Howrah Underground Metro Station
As a part of underground metro corridor, the tunnel passes under number of century old buildings, railway yard, existing flyover, and some heritage buildings. To avoid any contact with pile of existing Bankim Setu, a 228m radius turn makes the tunnel curve the sharpest of all Metro tunnels in Kolkata. Civil construction and track work were completed at the time of our visit. There were just a few balance work linked to services going on at the time.
Figure 5 TBM Bored Tunnel Below Hooghly/Ganga River
The starting and ending points of the Hooghly/Ganga River were marked on the tunnel walkway. Knowing that we would be walking below the river through a tunnel was a thrilling experience for me as well as other engineers present at site
Figure 6 Start Point Of Tunnel Under Hoogly River (From Howrah End)Figure 7 End Point Of Tunnel Under Hoogly River
We saw both the East Bound and West Bound tunnels via the cross passage. During the TBM drive, the twin TBMs were given the names “Rachana” and “Prerna,” which are the names of one of the TTAJV project officials’ little twin daughters. We emerged from the tunnel in the twilight. At the project office, we were served evening tea with appetisers. This concluded our site visit.
We are very thankful to AECOM, TTAJV and KMRCL for this wonderful opportunity.
Contributed by: Mr. Akshay Panwar, Sr. Tunnel Engineer, GeoConsult India
Working as a tunnelling professional brings its own set of challenges to people. The often-unpredictable nature of work is exciting and difficult in equal measure, and it requires a good balance of field experience and technical knowledge to deal with it.
Despite tunnelling being a field of huge potential and opportunities, most of the people learn about technical aspects of tunnelling in detail on the job rather than in universities. Because during graduation there is hardly any significant exposure to tunnelling and there are few universities around the world which offers specialized masters in tunnelling.
Therefore, a specialized master’s courses can prove to be a great stepping stone for a tunnelling professional, as they provide good technical education to build the career as well as to fast track it.
Few of the well-established Master’s tunnelling programs worldwide are stated below.
Master in NATM Engineering – Technical University Graz & Montan University Leoben – Austria.
Master in Tunnelling and TBMs- Politecnico Torino – Italy
MSc in Tunnelling and Underground Space – Warwick University – UK
Master in Tunnelling and U/G Space Technology – IIT (ISM) Dhanbad – India
Master in Tunnelling – MIT World Peace University – India
Master in Tunnelling and U/G Space – INSA / ENTPE – France
Master in Tunnels and U/G Works – AETOS Madrid – Spain
Some stand out aspects of such courses are as follows:
Covers all tunnelling aspects
The course is usually designed in a way that it fills the knowledge gaps, especially for young professionals or people who have worked in a particular area in tunnelling. So, for example, a person who has worked mainly in geotechnical design will learn the basics of tunnelling contracts, monitoring, exploration and site planning, etc. and by the end of it and will be able to develop a holistic understanding of a tunnel project.
Typical course work includes (not limited to) the following topics:
Exploration and engineering geology fieldwork
Testing
Characterization and classification
Geotechnical design
Analytical and numerical calculations
Tunnel design & layout, analytics
Construction operations, site organization
Construction contract
Risk analyses
Tunnel safety
Monitoring, data analysis, and interpretation
Instrumentation
Conventional and mechanical excavation methods
Ground improvement measures
2. The Teaching Faculty
Generally, the professors are leading experts in their respective field with a lot of practical experience. They are quite actively involved in large-scale tunnelling projects worldwide and hence possess state of art tunnelling knowledge with practical know-how. Additionally, the experts from the industry take guest lectures regularly which adds to the quality of education and provides an excellent opportunity to do some quality networking in tunnelling commune worldwide.
As the universities are involved with the industry, they usually have state of art equipment and laboratories which makes the education quite up to date with modern techniques.
Field work during Geology Lectures
Fieldwork during Blasting lectures
3. Visits to interesting projects
Students get to visit several international projects in and around the country which provides excellent exposure to state of art tunnelling practices in the field.
TBM at Koralm Tunnel site
Brenner Base Tunnel (Italy end) visit
Lining stress controllers at Semmering Base Tunnel
4. Multidisciplinary and multi-cultural
Almost all of these courses have students from various parts of the world with varying experiences and skillsets, and hence, it provides different perspectives to any situation. Tunnelling is not a standard science throughout the globe and different countries have different approaches to it, therefore, studying with a diverse pool of people really helps in widening the thought spectrum to approach any tunnelling problem.
My batch with Prof. Robert Galler at Montan University Leoben
5. At the end of it
In the end, it gives you a nice platform to build your tunnelling career. With all basics of the field covered, you are ready to work in a much independent way and explore your opportunities as tunnelling professional.
6. Some heads up before joining a specialized master’s course
Each such course generally specializes in a core area, it is better to do some basic research to find out if it matches your interest. Also, being a specialized course requires you to have some prerequisite knowledge and exposure of that area, therefore, it is advisable to achieve that basic level of proficiency before joining the course.
My Personal Experience of Specialized Master’s in Tunnelling
I did my master’s in NATM engineering from Austria. It is a master’s course organized jointly by Technical University Graz and Montan University Leoben. It is designed as a 6 semesters course, which includes attending lectures in the first 5 semesters and 6th is for the project thesis. I found it well-rounded and rich in terms of tunnelling education. Following are few snapshots from the course.
UCS Test with Chain Strain Measurement Unit at the Univesity Laboratory
TBM cutterhead wearability Test at the University Laboratory
The day started with a little bit sightseeing in Kashmir. One cannot ignore it if one had some spare time in a place like Srinagar. Dal lake was beautiful with heavenly snow-capped mountains surrounding from all the sides. Water was fresh and cold. The house boats “Shikara” and mobile ferry shops are just making the scene worth appreciation.
I came back to airport where I met Mr. Lalit (Senior Rites official) and a team of IRCON. Our government registered vehicle picked us from airport and we started heading towards our site at Banihal. We took Jammu Srinagar highway, a well-constructed 4 lane road with beautiful Meadows and steep mountain peaks, deep quarries looking like huge landslides and many stunning landscapes. Unfortunately, my phone got off due to low battery and I could not click photographs for the readers to live the sight I am talking about.
Things in mountain terrain could not be pleasant always, and we stuck in a big traffic jam between Qazikund and Banihal, not able to move an inch for an hour. There seems to be no alternative rather than to wait and wait. But as it said “a tunnel engineer is known to find his ways below the ground overpowering all the obstacles”, we did prove ourselves in this situation too. Mr. Lalit who had a lot of experience working in the area, had recalled that the nearby under construction Qazikund-Banihal road tunnel recently had a breakthrough, but the construction works are still going on. He suggested that there could be a way out through this tunnel, giving all of us a ray of hope. We made a try, utilized our contacts, and got in touch with the relevant tunnel manager.
It was almost 8.5km long, 7m wide twin tunnel, connected to each other by cross passages at every 500m, getting constructed by Navayuga engineering company limited. But the passage was not clear through a single tunnel till the end and the way need to be shifted from one tunnel to another through intermediate cross passages. But only a working staff knows the way (that at which cross passages the switch needs to be made from one tunnel to another, which need to be done multiple times till the end).
It’s true that fortune favours the brave, so did happened to us. At the time we reached the portal, an official vehicle just had started and was almost in the starting 500m range of the tunnel. That vehicle was stopped immediately, and we were allowed to reach to that vehicle to follow it through the next 8km of the journey inside the tunnel. Sometimes the unexpected teaches us more than the expected. That was a marvellous experience being a tunnel engineer. All the finished and unfinished parts of a legendary tunnel was perceived with a fruitful discussion, which could not have been possible if we would not had stuck in the semi-infinite traffic jam.
The secondary lining, primary lining, seepage, invert excavation, tunnel dimensions, cross passages, niche, over cutting, gantry, ventilation slab, pillar width, time of construction, which are the daily meals of a tunnel engineer professionally, were observed and discussed and compared with other reference projects where other people in our vehicle had worked upon.
We came out of the tunnel in approximately half an hour and found the traffic jam was still prevailing beyond this point. We thanked God who saved us from spending the night on road and moved ahead to Banihal. During this course we saw all the mucks of that excavated tunnel, which was piled up like a hill and a stadium was proposed to get constructed above that. It was a catchy thing to note for the utilization of muck material by tunnelling fraternity. We safely reached our guest house in Banihal. This small town of Banihal used to be a remote place until it was originally developed by Mr. Lalit and his team some 15 years back. Now it is no more like a remote area and we were happy to hear that Maruti Suzuki had recently opened a car showroom in the area. Our guest house was more like a resort which will always motivate u to work in the place, enjoying the serene beauty of nature. Due to the delay in time, our proposed site visit to tunnel portals was rescheduled to next day morning 7:30 am. We ended our day one with a lot of memories and beautiful experience to share.
Day 2
We had 7 portals in our scope and 4 days in hand. some of the portals were far from our office so it is not possible for Mr Lalit to visit all of them since he had other works to catch upon. we started at 7:30 after having our breakfast, as planned, with Mr Lalit, Mr Mirza who is a geologist from Ircon (construction wing of Indian railways) and our driver Mr Mushtaq on a vehicle displaying a board “on government duty”. The first portal (T78-P2) was nearby our site. We reached there in a couple of minutes. the view was slightly more challenging as was earlier perceived on paper, during desk study. the slopes we are not much steep, but all cracks could be observed on it, which is an indication of a potential slide. locals informed us about the heavy flow of mud from these slopes during rains.
Mr Lalit briefly told about the detailed observations to be made in the area afterwards and we move on to the next portal. while going, again we utilized the same rail tunnel to go on the other portal (T78-P1). The same procedures were followed, instructions noted down, some pictures captured, and we moved ahead to another portal T77-P1 and T74-P2 which are in front of each other separated by a bridge (No. 138). The slopes near abutments were steeper and higher as could be perceived from the photographs we had before coming to site. this is a common phenomenon in our field. 2D pictures have many limitations and sometimes could not reflect the exact intensity of the geometrical condition. Due to the lack of time we just visited T77-P1 briefly from one point, had a look on the far visible portal T74-P2 from this point only and started retreating to our office.
In due course Mr Lalit was telling stories and experiences of the time he spent in the area long time back, when suddenly a man stopped us on our way. He gave an angry look and asked us to leave with a strong warning. I was wondering what was that? Then Mr Mirza spill the beans and satisfied my curiosity about the situation telling that there is an issue going on with the locals and Ircon regarding the compensation they should get for their property which was deliberately hampered by railway because of construction activities. so, they often come on a strike and call off all construction activities till the issue is resolved. Mr Mirza further told that he was made hostage the other day on one of the sites by the locals and somehow, he managed to escape after spending a day over there. That created a type of shear wave passing throughout my body giving goose bumps everywhere. Till now I mostly worked in office and sites of metropolitan cities. for me work means engineering. but now I need to shift this thought into a broader arena, where a tunnel engineer should also be like Ethen Hunt of Mission Impossible. He needs to know and tackle every situation, similarly like he is ready for all the unseen during Tunnelling. we came back to office. Mr Lalit left late noon after attending a high-profile meeting with senior delegates. I got loaded with lots of old documents, probably the person who had prepared it would be enjoying life after retirement. The rest of day went in reading those documents and extracting the useful part for my design.
Day 3
We started at 9:00 am with our recently formed team having Mr Mirza and driver Mr Mushtaq, Mr Lalit left the previous day. This time we had planned to go a little bit far to a place known as Khadi to visit 2 portals some 25 km from our office. In a hilly terrain, 25 km means 50km on a planar terrain, sometimes even more.
We started our conversation with some technical stuffs discussing GSI and RMR and gradually into more technicality. Mr Mirza had a good 8 years’ experience working on Tunnelling sites as a geologist and the same can be assessed from the depth of knowledge he had in the field. In the course of time when I became sufficient impressed from his technical knowledge and enriched site experience, I asked him “why don’t you write journal papers”. I was seriously astonished when he replied that I am a musician and I hardly get anytime for technical stuffs after office hours. I looked at his face with my mouth and eyes both in “O” position, thinking that in the next second, he will say “I am kidding”. but he was serious. then I thought many people know guitars, what a fun in that. but no, he was a real musician. he plays saxophone, mouth organ, keyboard, flute and many other and has a band of his, which perform shows. He shows me his performances on his mobile and I was like “aww, that’s professional”. but he said it’s only his hobby and he like pursuing his hobby. At this time, this particular time, I was wondering what actually my hobby is, pursuing it is next level for me.
We discussed a bit on different types of instruments he plays, their type and cost. Then he switched the topic, and I came to know that he is a biker too, used to go far places on hilly terrain on adventure rides. he also uses to do skiing on ice capped mountains and is also a skilled photographer (not like any other local photographer nowadays experimenting skills on mobile phones).
I was deeply impressed. Not because he plays saxophone so well, nor because he loves biking or photography, but he pursues his passions to this extent despite being a responsible professional. This is a rare sight in our industry. young energetic enthusiastic professionals generally give their prime time in work with their full sincerity to build a bright and successful future ahead. The remaining time is often shared by family. In the course of time they forget who they are. they get sandwiched so much between work and responsibility, that after a time, they cannot even remember what used to be their hobby or passions or what makes them happy. they live for others and die for others, like a soldier, but this soldier gets his retirement after sixty. After this enlightening encounter with Mr Mirza, I decided that I will revive at least one of my hobby and pursue it with passion. We reached our portal. The more than one-hour journey went in a flash. The sight was overwhelming. Full hill of more than 300m had sided over the portal. the debris was cleared in front of portal, but still sometime or the other some boulders keeps on coming. We trekked above the portal on the hill and saw only broken pieces of rock and big to small sized boulders all covering the hill up to the top. The intensity of falling boulders were so high that it had completely bend the wire fencing and steel sheets of the containers nearby. We took our observations, prayed for safety of the people working in the location till the slope is stabilized and moved ahead to next portal.
But things here do not go smoothly, as they are planned. The way to other portal was blocked and we had no other option to return and reschedule the visit to other day, as proposed by Mr Mirza. We came back to our office around 3:30 pm, discussing various topics, sharing our experiences, technology, landscapes, places unexplored in Kashmir, family, and others. although we met for the first time, but our conversations were satisfying the prologue “khoob jamega rang jab mil baithenge do yaar”. Our industry is small, and lot of work is there. you will keep meeting new people and old ones again and again, and they become one of your extended family throughout your life.
Day 4
From the past two days, a Statement is continuously hitting my ears, “DP is coming on site visit”. whether in office, mess, at site, or walking in the campus, someone or the other can be heard talking “DP is coming….”. DP is director projects and is equivalent to a chief minister inside any company. Mr Mirza and other staffs were too busy to attend me for my “engineer’s day out”. Mr Mushtaq took me to one of the sites we had earlier visited with Mr Lalit. Definitely, had removed our vehicles hoarding displaying “on government duty” as work was important and I didn’t want to get into unnecessary trouble especially when I have loads of work to complete in two days. The site has two tunnel portals T78 P1 and T77D P2 on either side of a small valley separated by a bridge.
I took my notepad, GPS, and other tools with full enthusiasm and started trekking over the mild steel slopes of one of the portals. I was alone and I had plenty of time. In no time I was above the slope right side of the portal.
You get a touch of scale effect when you actually climb a hill. On our desk in design office, a slope of 30m and 35m hardly makes any considerable difference, but when it comes to climbing 30m and 35m, it does. yes, it badly does. after 30, u feel another 5 like 50, and you your heart will mock you “I was telling you to consider 30m and you listened to you mind, now suffer”.
I collected the required data trekking on the portal slopes. You have to be very careful as you could slip if you don’t pay utmost attention while moving on the steep slippery, rocky slopes. Sometimes you must protect yourself from spikes of wild shrubs and pests it might have. Three rounds of going up and coming down can drain all your energy levels, but since it was my first visit, I was too much charged to get exhausted. I finished this portal collecting all the crucial information, the location of any tension cracks, the GPS location of the zones where slope stability is required in all the three directions around the portal. I then went to next portal T77D P2 which has already some stabilization work carried out. The slope next to it was critical. It is mild steep, covered with hill wash out material, not very high but has already yielded a bit in the past showing cracks and sliding pattern on the surface. Some gabions were constructed but seems out of shape.
Completing the work on these two portals we went to another portal which was on another side of the tunnel T78. Mr Mushtak took me there through the already constructed tunnel and we came out of the concerned portal T78 P2. Again, a massive hill all covered with hill wash out material. A portion of the hill was excavated during tunnel construction and stabilized some 70m behind the portal. A temporary batching plant was constructed near one side of the hill where all the machineries were placed. A small nallah is crossing just ahead of this portal above which a steel bridge was already constructed.
As it is said, those who are drowning get help of a twig. when an ill person sees a man with a stethoscope, he thinks he is the cure. Similarly, when local people facing a lot of problems because of this disturbed slope, see you on the hills looking at the slopes and writing something on your notebook, they think you are there saviour sent by God to save them from there sufferings. One local person living very closely, assisted me in my trek over the hill slopes and narrated all the problems they are suffering because of the slope in every season of the year. When a needy and helpless person is narrating his problem, you must hear it, irrespective you can solve it or not. At this particular time, u r above the role given to you. u r an administrator. u feels like a saviour. It is always good feeling to help people in need, and that good feeling multiplies several folds, if that is your work. once you assure them that everything will be fixed, not to worry anymore, you will be a hero. Both in their eyes and your eyes. A tunnel engineer often enjoys this type of happiness on site.
The day was almost about to complete. I came back to my guest house with a beautiful experience. but there was a concern about the remaining 3 portals, as I had only one day in hand. It was always cold in the evening. This day it was drizzling too. I called Mr. Mirza who agreed to take me to the rest of the portals. I stayed in my room and planned my last day visit.
Day 5
With a bit stressed about the weightage of work which must be completed at any cost, I couldn’t sleep properly. Many a times a got up just to find its still night. I finally got up early morning around 8 and called Mr. Mirza about the status and the reply shocked me as well as my angels. Mr. Mirza was too much occupied with the DP visit and he already left site one hour earlier. Three portals need to be covered that day, out of which one portal is too far in a place called khadi, where we were not allowed to go two days earlier. And I feel like stuck on a boat in a stormy sea from where beach is visible, but the boat has no peddles and I don’t know swimming.
I dry cleaned myself and rushed to the Ircon office. Everyone seems so busy. I got intuition that even I managed a vehicle to get there, I have to go alone. The situation was too difficult to give me a technical companion who knows the area. The zest to overcome challenges sometimes makes you overcome your risk. My problem was I knew very less officials there and whom I knew were already on site. I asked to many unknown faces for any free vehicle which could take me to site and there was a clear cut ‘No’. All vehicles were busy in assisting DP and his assisting officials. Every time I was asked to ask a new person and every time, I was given a negative reply. I kept standing on the main gate and at one point of time I really felt very hopeless. Then you feel importance of local convince what u get at your doorstep when you are at a metropolitan city like Delhi.
And then I saw Mr. Rao going into the office and I got a strip to prevent me from drowning. Mr. Rao came from the same vehicle from Srinagar. We never had a talk before, and I knew he will not recognize me, but still there was a bonding that we were mates in a small trip, and that gave me hope he might help me. I rushed to him, introduced myself, wanted to ask his help in the name of heavens and oceans but couldn’t do it. I told him that if any office vehicle is not possible, he can hire me a taxi and I will pay for all the expenses. My desperation seems to have touched him, and he tried, honestly, and get me a vehicle. He was a true help and if he wouldn’t been that senior, I would have hugged him. First, I moved to the far portal in khadi, which was an Adit tunnel to T74. I was too charged with my day achievements. Too much focussed. I reached site without any difficulties in about an hour. This portal was classy. It has an abandoned tunnel adjacent to it and it is surrounded by stairs all through the steep slope. At one glance the structure looks like great Wall of China and it need to be explored.
I jumped over the stairs from one side and start climbing all over the portal slope through it. There are small slides above the stairs at some point where stair is covered with debris. All hurdles tackled and I came down on other side. That was a good experience. Had a discussion with site personnel, observed and noted down the details and without wasting much time rushed to other two portals T74 north portal and T77 south portal which are in front of each other separated by a bridge.
There were rocky heavily jointed weathered slopes around these portals. Bridge work was also under progress. There were vertical cuts, local failures, mud flow, stream below the bridge and many challenges. I tracked down to the stream to see the condition of slopes near the bridge pier which were critical but standing. And fortunately, I got a loader going up, who gave me lift to reach portal level. I utilized my time to the maximum. That was the task I was ready to do anything, got hopeless at one point but now it’s there. That was much more than a site for me at that time. Now I wanted to do it to the level that my efforts are justified at least in my conscious. I had time and did it thoroughly. With all the sweat, labour, and dusty face, I completed my work in about 3 hours with a feeling of satisfaction.
I asked my driver to return and soon we were on highway. I as looking outside the window pane to the mountains and streams with a feeling of accomplishment and this small part of my life is called happiness. Suddenly our vehicle stopped because of a very large traffic jam, which seems to be in kilometres. Mr Rao asked us to submit the vehicle before 3pm Rao and that was worrying me. And to my surprise and excitement came the DP caravan with 4-5 vehicles next to me. Mr. Mirza was also spotted sitting in one of the vehicles. Some guards came out, analysed the situation and decided to go from a different way which is quite rough but will lead to guest house. They made a way for their vehicles to turn around and started in that direction. We also put our vehicle in the caravan and now I am part of the DP team with all securities. Mr. Mirza saw me and smiled. I too replied with a smile.
I came back to my guest house, fulfilled from top to bottom. My trip ended along with task. Although it was a small trip, but it became a week to remember.
Contributed by: Mr. Saurav Agarwal, AECOM India Pvt. Ltd.
A new upcoming prestigious railway project has been introduced by the Indian railways connecting the city of Rishikesh and Karanprayag in the state of Uttarakhand. This proposed railway line is 125km long consisting total of 12 new railway stations, 35 bridges and 17 tunnels. The project has been divided into 10 Packages and the detailed design for these packages has been awarded to five consultants each with two packages.
Proposed Rail Line from Rishikesh to Karanprayag
Being involved in the design of tunnels for two packages (comprising of three tunnels, two stations and other civil works), I was highly interested to visit the site and get an overview before design. As it is rightly said, you can’t design unless you imagine or see it. To develop an idea of the actual ground conditions, it is necessary for an engineer to visit the site. Having got the confirmation, I started off with collecting all the necessary documents such as the alignment, the geological information’s, etc. which could have been helpful for me to understand develop the imagination of the project. With all the documents, our team took off along with the team from IGI to Dehradun. We took a cab and reached the hotel after four hours of long drive from Dehradun. With a chilled-out weather, the road trip was quite interesting to have observed the natural scenic beauty of Uttarakhand. We reached out at hotel in the evening by 7 and took rest as we had a long three-day tedious itinerary to be followed. The client’s team was also to have joined us during the site visit the next day. Being my first site visit, I was filled with enthusiasm and energy to see the field from an engineer’s perspective.
The next morning, we left the hotel at 6AM and went to the clients site office. Having the team ready, we headed up towards the end of the package in ours scope. Towards the end of the package, there was a proposed railway station (second station) and the portal for the tunnel (third tunnel). Reaching the locations at around 12PM, we headed up at the station location checking the approximate location of the proposed rail line. The client team helped us to check and verify the actual ground levels at the location. We walked along the length of the station and checked the surficial ground conditions, discussed the available options and proposal for design. Having moved along the location we found a small surface runoff which otherwise was not clearly visibly on the documents. Features like this could have been recorded only via site visits and they could have been later considered in the design.
Moving along we reached the portal location and checked the strata and other important features there. Having the proposed layout plan of the station, I had a three-dimensional overview of the station with the portal in mind. We also discussed about the possible alternatives that could have been considered in the layout plan. Having discussed this, we checked out the accessibility of the locations from construction point of view. It was already four by the time we completed our discussion at the location. We headed off back to the hotel considering short daytimes in the mountains. It was quite an insightful experience having visited the station and the portal location.
The next day we headed off early morning and reached the client office. Together we marched towards the Portal 1 of the third tunnel. The location we were about to reach had two portals and a bridge. Reaching the location at around 11AM, we had a discussion for both the portal locations regarding the considerations for the slopes, the accessibility to the portals, the alignment and land acquisitions required if any. With the team I reached out to the portal location to check the ground conditions and any other important feature to be considered in design. Since the surface ground condition was seen to have sound hard rock strata, we discussed slope stability options at this location. Connecting the two portals was a bridge overlapping the existing NH. We also discussed regarding the road diversion options at this location. Completing our discussion, we had lunch and headed of towards the Portal 1 of the second tunnel.
We reached the portal location and took an overview of the alignment at this location. Here we could get an idea of the Portal 2 of second tunnel, one station and the Portal of first tunnel. We reached out the proposed formation level and discussed regarding the options of constructing causing minimal disturbance to the existing natural scenic beauty. Because Uttarakhand is a home of temples, one of such temples was intersecting our proposed alignment. With an opinion to preserve its integrity and natural historic beauty, we discussed for options without disturbing the beauty of that temple. It was evening by the time the discussion was over and we returned.
The next day we started off early morning to the same location we left last day. We discussed majorly regarding the complications of the station location and the criticalities at the Portal 2 of first tunnel. The tunnel portal was very near to the existing highway as a result the client was more concerned with the safety and the disturbance to the NH. We discussed regarding the possible options for Portal related to its accessibility, working space and stability concerns. Completing the discussions at this location we headed off towards Portal 1 of the first tunnel. Portal 1 of this tunnel was very critical as there was an existing NH over this location and very close to the Portal. This was critical and the client was very much concerned with this. Various options and suggestions were put forward and we discussed them considering the safety of the existing NH.
Having completed the discussion, we left of for Dehradun Airport to catch our flight in the evening. The site visit for the project I have been involved with design gave me a good idea of the location, the view of the alignment, critical considerations while designing and most of all, it gave me a vision to see the place with an engineer’s perspective. Also, I could get an exposure of the rock outcrops, the faults and shear zones, the geological and the geotechnical conditions, the criticalities which could be observed and visualized. Because it was my first site visit, I also got a good exposure of the site, enhancement of technical knowledge and very good help and support from my seniors and team.
Hydro-Power is a term which originates from Power/Electricity which in turn is acquired from Hydel/Aqua/Water and its natural flowing tendency. Most of the people who don’t know details of Hydropower will always associate Hydropower with Dams and water obstructing media which causes problems like flood and other resettlement issues and destruction of aquatic life. In short, hydropower disturb the biodiversity.
But as Hydropower Engineer, I assure you that that statement quoted above is just “MYTH”
Worldwide all the Hydropower Community and the dedicated governments do not conceptualize Hydropower Projects before assuring well that project will not create havoc to the biodiversity. During initial progress of Hydropower development (early era of Hydropower) due to lack of studies and inexperience, many negative impacts had occurred on the biodiversity. But after gaining experience and knowledge, Hydropower community is well committed towards natural flora and fauna.
Assessing biodiversity risks at very early stages i.e. during project planning, can help developers choose designs that minimise impacts. In turn, this can help keep projects on track, maintain good stakeholder relations and provide reassurance to lenders. For example fish passes can be modified and designed in such a manner that will not affect the aquatic animal’s life upstream of the dam. So many such things are possible if we properly planned hydropower projects keeping in mind biodiversity. All such measures are termed as mitigation hierarchy.
In India, Environment and Forest Ministry (MOEF) is closely associated / monitored Hydropower Projects and always regulated guidelines for Hydropower Developer like NHPC, SJVNL etc. and after fulfilling all the requisite guidelines/norms set by ministry, Hydropower projects get approval to continue.
Detailed Project Report (DPR) is prepared before construction and submitted to various ministries for approval which includes the Chapter in which all the details, and study related to the project and its associated biodiversity are attached for better transparency and clarity.
As Hydropower Projects are associated with very remote areas of country, its development in these areas enhance the livelihood quality as well. Nimmo Bazgo HE Project in Leh Region and Chutak HE Project in Kargil Region are best illustrations of Positive impacts of Hydropower not only on Biodiversity but socio-economic benefits as well.
I wish, small input by me, have put some light on this debatable and broad subject. Thanks with lot of regards to all senior & friends associated. Once again, “Happy and Prosperous World Environment Day”.
Contributed by: Mr. Sandeep Singh Nirmal & Mr. Mohammad Naseem, RITES Ltd
Koraput is a small town in Odisha state in south eastern region of India. Koraput lies in eastern ghats of India and has beautiful green landscape. It is so relaxing and calm to leave behind the fast-moving life of Delhi and visit such place for a couple of days. We were excited that we were visiting our client for preparation of Detailed Project Report for 6 railway tunnels.
Since we took train to reach the site office, we went past lush green mountains, valleys, waterfalls and streams, enjoying lovely nature while approaching our destination. It was a peasant sunny evening when me and my colleague Naseem arrived at Koraput railway station. We had many extremely important tasks ahead of us to be completed in coming three days. Hence, as soon as we deboarded the train, we went directly to our client’s office to discuss the activities planned during our visit. We had a meeting at with the team and had dinner before we went to hotel to end the day.
Next day began early at 8 AM with meetings with client to discuss on design of six tunnels (a project that we were already working on), release of payments to the work completed by us till date and upcoming new project opportunities. The meeting was a success and client briefed us about the new project they were planning to execute (Jarti- Maliguda section) and wanted our opinion on alignment for the same. The project involved laying a new railway track adjacent to existing track which involved challenges of constructing tunnels if the alignment is taken to the left of present alignment and on the other hand required filling and construction of bridges if new alignment is proposed on right of existing alignment. In this regard, client sought for our opinion to decide best of these alternatives and wished to discuss the result in two days in their regional headquarter at Visakhapatnam.
Following the meeting, we began the journey to the Maliguda station travelling through remote tribal villages, unmetalled roads, crossing rivers and dams. We reached Maliguda station at 12:15 AM after two-hour long drive.
Me and Naseem conducted a 10 km long walk-through survey from Maliguda station to Jarti station. Nearly 4 hours of walking along the existing track included documenting observations on the nearby hill and depression on a toposheet. These observations were further studied in evening to make a recommendation whether track should be taken to left or right side of existing alignment.
The observations were later drawn on a drawing with colour coding and site photographs explaining the amount of cutting or filling (tunnel or bridge) required along the track for proposed alignment on left and right side of existing alignment.
After completing the visit, we headed directly to a restaurant to have some food as our lunch was overdue. It was a long day ahead, post having something to eat we went to site office to meet client for another meeting in Koraput. We had a detailed discussion over the work done by us on previous project and further agreements on measurement of quantities for billing for payment purposes. Once engineers on behalf of client were satisfied with our work and agreed to make the payment, it was about 9 PM and was the time for dinner.
Next morning was pleasant and we felt very energetic and motivated to achieve the goals that lied ahead of us. We went for another client meeting scheduled in Koraput. It was a quick follow up of yesterday’s meeting. The tour was about to complete with only the most important meeting left at Visakhapatnam (about 200kms from Koraput), hence we took a bus for a 5-hour long journey.
We reached Visakhapatnam in evening and began our meeting with client at 6 PM. We briefed them about walk through survey and gave them our suggestions on the alignment. It became obvious that our recommendation is the efficient solution for deciding the alignment which will involve construction of 7 tunnels between Jarti and Maliguda. Clients were convinced with our recommendations and expressed that they would like to carry our engagements forward with the project and will discuss with their management to award us the work for design of these tunnels. We are hopeful to get this project and would like to carry the momentum we have built further if we get a chance to work on this project.
Your day start with your cook shaking your legs and asking to get up for breakfast and you feel like ‘I just slept a couple of minutes before and it was night, how come the breakfast is ready’. Yes, it’s a wake up call for site visit at 5:30am in the morning when all my alarms gave up from bringing me back from the worlds of dream, giving a feeling of nostalgia of the long gone school days when my mother used to wake up early in morning and I used to play hide and sleep with her. Definitely, life is more professional now and I wake up for tunnels and for other colleagues who will also accompany me to our project site.
I am a tunnel engineer deputed at a site near Barak area of Manipur, India, since a month. Manipur has a majority of tribal population with very less employment. Although I haven’t seen from my own eyes and neither I want to have it in my experience diaries, but there are stories of security threats in some areas of the state and many people have been abducted for money in last 10 years. Our site is located in that disturbed zone and many precautions are taken while moving in this region.
We have found a safe place to stay at a small town of Assam called Silchar, which is 130km from the site. Travelling to site takes at least 4 hours, hence, we start early by 6am to reach our site positively by 10am.
As soon as the conscious is gained against sleep, everything moves like a bullet train. My only flatmate, colleague and geologist Mr. Mukesh, who is one of the most disciplined man I have seen in my life, would be half finished with his breakfast when I was putting tooth paste on brush and hell lot of tasks were still left. He gave an upset look and said “How will we reach at 10” before leaving downstairs to our vehicle. His strong expression of concern gave a sparking effect to my muscles.
All refreshment, packing, dressing, breakfast completed in 5 minutes and I rushed to our vehicle only to realize that our third colleague Mr Pradeep, an instrumentation engineer, who lives nearby is still not ready.
We started at 6:15 am in a small sized jeep having a small carrier at the back for carrying goods. The condition of vehicle is not at its best and seats are flat, honestly uncomfortable. This vehicle is intentionally hired to give an impression to the Naxalite (local insurgents) that we are but poor labours so that we are not targeted by any extremist group. We dress our clothes in a way that if anyone stops us on our way, he will give us some pennies instead of taking any.
It’s always fresh and beautiful morning in Silchar. We crossed the narrow streets of town in a couple of minutes in early morning hours, which is otherwise a densely populated area. Soon we are on the countryside with dew soaked lush green meadows, standing rice crops, cattle feeding on the wet grasses, dense pockets of supari and banana trees with blurred vision of mountain range filling our eyes at horizon. It looks amazingly beautiful in the misty morning of winters. The cold morning breeze touches your face and hair. It energizes your body and enlighten your soul.
Morning Sunshine
Soon we crossed a small settlement called Baskandi where Barak river also fills the space around you and the serene view is no less than a treat to your eyes and soul. This is a time to relax and appreciate the beautiful creation of God.
Serene Barak river
We start from there on NH-37 crossing the town of Fulertal and then Jirghat which is the border town of Assam and Manipur. Just after entering Manipur is we halt at Jirbam police station, where we have to update our visit to the security control room and get clearance for our way to site.
Our next halt is at Jiribam checkpoint where all our details including contacts and vehicle number are noted and informed to all security checkpoints every 20 km throughout the journey. They track our vehicles and inform our location to control room time to time. Sometimes we are escorted to safe locations by army vehicles and sometimes we are even asked to return back, if conditions are not favorable to travel.
From this point, starts the eastern extension of Himalayan ranges known as Purvanchal mountains. Life is no simpler from this point and our body starts preparing itself for hurdles and challenges. The mountains don’t have very high altitudes but their formation is highly non uniform. The road is single lane, irregular with valley and hill on either side. The greenery thickens, which marks the start of forest area. There is a dense vegetation cover on both side of the road, which often makes a hindrance to the valley view.
Scenic vegetation and valley
It seems like a roller coaster ride where the friction between you and your seat is not sufficient enough to hold you in one position, and you keep slipping and toppling and jumping. Pradeep, who occupy back seat of our vehicle along with myself often have collisions in this turbulent motion. Everything what you have eaten in breakfast came to stake and you need to strictly follow travel tactics to avoid any vomiting.
As we proceed towards Makru bridge, piles of trucks would be observed which is again a pity on our vehicle and driver. Makru bridge which is some 80km and 2.5 hours from our place is a hanging steel bridge over Barak river where pathway is made of wooden planks. From its condition, this bridge seems like the first bridge known to human kind and even an aesthetic will start remembering God before stepping on it. Although these are twin bridges, but one is already outdated and only small vehicles are allowed on it. Second one can take heavy vehicles too but only one vehicle at a time is allowed on it, making traffic jam mandatory on either side of it.
Makru Bridge
The trucks will completely occupy one side of the lane and if u wish to cross through other side it will make obstruction to the coming vehicle, when again our driver have to reverse our vehicle and make way between the trucks, so that the coming vehicle could pass. This is how we make to the bridge killing more than an hour sometimes. And to our surprise, sometimes after reaching Makru we get to know the bridge is under maintenance. That make us wait for hours, sitting beside truck drivers and fellow passengers and having a good time talking politics and social issues making good bonding with each other.
Traffic and congestion enroute
From Makru is the second phase of our journey, 50 km remaining in targeted 1.5 hours. We move fast on the road in thick forest with long bamboo, banana trees, short and tall grasses and wild cultivation all over our eyes crossing. The beautiful scattered sunlight from the mountain peaks and fresh water springs on the roadside gives a little relax to our tiring journey. There are small villages along the route with small wooden huts and tin roof. Their women can be spotted carrying baskets on their back and collecting wooden stuffs from forest, which often makes you forget your hardship in front of theirs. Sometimes villagers stop your vehicle to collect informal toll for repairing the road, and you wonder why the road is always broken only in front of their house.
There are designated places discovered by us where the road is wide and visibility is more, making it comparatively less risky to stop and get fresh in minimum possible time. The twists and turns continues throughout the remaining journey crossing all military checkpoints, bridges, sharp bends, villages, mountains, valleys, springs, broken roads to reach Barak bridge. This is a replica of Makru Bridge with same traffic conditions but worse roads. Here we also need to protect our head from banging into the roof of our vehicle and moreover, if a little bit of our window pane is open, we can end up in eating a handful of mud.
Its rightly said that the value of anything becomes great if the effort in getting that thing is high, and that emotion can be truly felt when we get a glimpse of your own, very own, lovable site from the bridge. There was a sigh of relief on our dusty, tired and shrinked face which makes us forget about all the hardships throughout the journey and with the spirit and enthusiasm of 300 Spartans, we reached our site.
The start of the shift for NFR railway project at tunnel site in Manipur hence commences with full enthusiasm to supervise the construction of tunnel lining, ensuring quality standards, educating labours about safety and various review meetings with contractors and clients.
Tunnelling for sustainable infrastructure development in India has witnessed a positive breakthrough in last few years. Apart from the general practice for hydro projects, tunnelling seen to have a mandate for traffic management, mobility and connectivity development in many parts of the country. Metro rail projects executed in cities of prominence, dotted with slums, heritage, old buildings and lived by a sizable dense population, has left underground excavation methods as the lone choice for carving way to connect localities. Considering the arising need of construction of NATM tunnel for metro projects in dense cities, I am writing about shallow tunnel excavation in hard rock having presence of densely populated slums on surface from one of the metro project I have worked on. Hard rock condition is very favorable for tunnel construction at shallow depths in range of 15-20 m however excavation is one of the toughest job due to presence of slums as protection of these surface structures is of utmost importance for public safety. Though excavation can be carried out by Blasting but it’s important to adopt controlled blasting techniques thereby reducing the blast induced ground vibrations however it leads to increased excavation cycle. Every tunnel project has its own uniqueness in terms of the ground conditions, location with respect to local public (Near/Far), structural & architectural layout, functional and operational requirements. It’s important for construction team to establish suitable measures for ensuring safe excavation. Such measures are being listed below which lead to successful completion of excavation of the tunnel. Twin Tunnels are proposed to be excavated using NATM approach which necessitates robust instrumentation scheme and continuous monitoring as it is important to avoid any damage to surface structures. Excavated dimensions of the proposed D-shape NATM tunnel include 6.0 m width and 7.0 m height Rock mass likely to encounter across the entire tunnel stretch is hard Basaltic G-II/I rock mass having 2-3 dominant joint sets.
STAGEWISE EXCAVATION (HEADING AND BENCHING) Slums located on surface needs to be protected against blast induced ground vibrations during tunnel excavation and therefore it was essential to excavate the large dimension tunnel in stages i.e. Heading of height 5.5 m and benching of height 1.5 m in basalt rock mass having an RMR of about 60-65, UCS of about 80 Mpa with a view to generate minimum blast induced ground vibrations. To limit the magnitude of blast induced ground vibrations in terms of “peak particle velocity” (ppv) and to assess the intensity of blasts, “Vibrometer” or “Engineering Seismographs” were installed on surface in slums at different locations to record the “peak particle velocity” (ppv) for every blasts. Maximum allowable vibration ppv is 5 or 12 mm/s as per contract based on existing structural conditions of slums.
Figure 1: Tunnel Layout
BLASTING SEQUENCE FOR HEADING EXCAVATION Even after dividing the excavation of tunnel into heading and benching, full face blasting for heading cannot be done due to vibration limits. To ensure vibrations within the allowable limits, there are some parameters in blasting which can be worked upon during trial blast are: Peripheral drilling (Closed Spacing) Reduced Number of Holes per blast Minimizing the max. charge per delay (MCD) Blasting small section of tunnel at a time Reduced length of blast holes Providing more delays During the start of tunnel excavation, Trial blasts carried out played an important role to establish all these parameters as mentioned above to ensure the vibrations in controlled manner and also to ensure safe excavation. Heading excavation was divided into three blast in one round for average advance of 1.5 m.
Figure 2: Heading Excavation (1st Blast)
Heading Excavation by blasting as can be seen in the figures (2-4) divided into three different stages namely Wedge Cut as first blast at the center, Side slashing as second blast for the sides and third blast for crown blast. These stages were designed based on trial blast and with a view to generate PPV within the allowable limits. After each advance, primary supports including rock bolting, wire mesh and shotcrete provided as per designed drawing.
Robust Instrumentation scheme for surface and inside tunnel were proposed including multipoint borehole extensometers, optical targets, piezometers, inclinometers, building instruments just to name a few installed and monitoring carried out continuously to closely check the ground deformations and surface settlements. It is reiterated about the importance of blast design and trial blast for excavation of hard rock at shallow depth below old structures for successful completion of any tunnel project. Also the role of instrumentation which decides the way to move forward.
Figure 5: Completed Heading Excavation
Excavation work is complex and after every advance, there is a necessity to do some minor changes in blasting pattern, delays which suits the face condition and it is the alertness, experience and observations which helps in to ensure smooth and good production after every blast. Blasting is a key to success in these hard rock projects and it is a team of geologists, mining, civil engineer, mechanical engineers who work together day in day out to ensure the desired production and thereby successful completion.
DR. SANDEEP POTNIS PROFESSOR AND HEAD, TUNNEL ENGINEERING PROGRAM MIT WORLD PEACE UNIVERSITY
There is tremendous scope for tunnel engineering and underground construction in India, thanks to booming infrastructural developments. However fresh civil engineers in India are not aware of the opportunities in tunneling and underground construction. I discussed about this fact with Sandeep Singh Nirmal, Chair TAIym. This discussion paved the road for One day workshop on ‘Developments and Career Opportunities in Tunneling and Underground Construction’. It was jointly organized by MIT-World Peace University, Pune , Tunneling Association of India (TAI) and Tunneling Association of India Young Members (TAIym) on 12th June 2019. It was attended by about 120 fresh and working engineers. Sandeep Singh Nirmal, with other TAIym members – Mr. Ankur Chauhan, Mr. Nandan Kumar and Mr. Anshul Sindhwani took lot of efforts to make this workshop a grand success.
Second activity of TAIym took place after exactly one month. It was visit to Mumbai Metro line – 3, package 2 (CSMT to Grant road) site. As planned by Tunneling Association Of India young members (TAIym) in association with MIT WPU amp; Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), young members of the organization were invited for one day site visit to MMRCL MML-3, Package 2 (CSMT to Grant Road) on 12 th July 2019. It was great exposure for MIT-WPU students. Our students got opportunity to interact with Mr. Klaus Munz (Technical Consultant – Tunnel & NATM), Mr. Eugene Olenchik (Construction Manager Tunnels) and Mr. Nandan Kumar (Planning Manager). This visit facilitated our students thorough understanding of operation of TBM. This exposure will go long-way in building the career of these students. I am thankful to Sandeep and his team for sparing their valuable time from their hectic schedule for planning and organizing such wonderful activities. I assure them that we will be glad to extend our cooperation to TAIym in all their future activities.
NILESH A. IRALE M.TECH TUNNEL ENGG. (STUDENT MIT-WPU)
TAIym is a organization aiming to improve qualities in tunnel engineers with the help of various programs, practical industrial problems and site visits. Under the guidance of Sandeep Nirmal sir, I had visited Odisha (Koraput). In this site visit, I have studied an entire existing alignment of railway and possible proposed alignments for new railway track. The main purpose of the visit is to eliminate those roots or sites which are impractical or unfeasible and to select best suitable alignment for proposed railway track. We have visited all the existing tunnels. Furthermore I come to know about various new things like, how the alignments for railway doubling projects are selected, what factors are being considered while selecting proposed portal locations. The entire site visit was very helpful for my career in tunneling. We are fortunate as we are getting guidance of such experts because of TAIym. TAIym is buiding a bond between Industry and students and also exploring the world of tunneling to young engineers.
SATYASHIL S. PATIL M.TECH TUNNEL ENGG (STUDENT MIT-WPU)
Tunnel infrastructure is a major contributor to the country’s development and in developing country like India. There is a lot of projects going on in this sector. The Tunnel Association of India Young Members is a great platform for our young generation. TAIym keeps arranging programs for new tunnelers. We very lucky that we got a chance to site visit at Koraput Odisa with TAIym Expertise. This gives us lot of information about the Portal locations, alternate alignments, railway tunnel excavation, drainage system around tunnel portals, challenges faced during and after construction, how to deal with problems, methods of construction, equipment’s, how geology affects construction time etc. As a result of this site visit we are directly connected with the people in the industry and hence we found out exactly what the industry need and how should we proceed to develop expertise. This organization is working hard to make new engineers capable.
TAI-Young Members 