Siegauen tunnel

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Siegauen tunnel
Niederpleis tunnel
Siegauen tunnel
South portal of the Siegau tunnel with trough structure
use Railway tunnel
traffic connection High-speed route Cologne – Rhine / Main
place Niederpleis
length 2502 m
Number of tubes 1
cross-section 98 m²
Largest coverage 14 m
construction
Client DB ProjektBau
start of building 1998
completion 2000
business
operator DB network
release August 1, 2002
location
Siegauen Tunnel (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Red pog.svg
Red pog.svg
Coordinates
North portal 50 ° 47 ′ 2 "  N , 7 ° 12 ′ 57"  E
South portal 50 ° 45 ′ 44 ″  N , 7 ° 13 ′ 31 ″  E

The Siegauen Tunnel (in some cases also the Niederpleis Tunnel ) is a double-track tunnel on the high-speed Cologne – Rhine / Main line . Its construction is considered to be the most difficult section of the whole new line. It crosses under the floodplain of Sieg and therefore bears his name.

The tunnel is part of the 5,120 m long section 2.4 of the new line, which was awarded to Ed Züblin AG in a functional tender by DB ProjektBau in May 1998 .

course

The tube crosses under, from north to south, the Siegaue, the Sieg, the A 560 , part of Niederpleis with the Sankt Martinus community center , a parish church and a cemetery and the Pleisbachaue between Siegburg and Sankt Augustin . The structure also passes under four gas pressure pipes .

The tunnel has a length of 2502 meters. The tube is connected to trough structures with a length of 491 meters to the north and 463 meters to the south. The tunnel has a height of 8 meters and a width of 12.30 meters. It reaches its deepest point under the A 560, its largest overburden with 14 meters under the church of St. Martinus .

The tube accommodates two tracks in the slab track . In the northernmost tunnel of the new line, the permitted speed in the northern area is 250 km / h, in the southern section 300 km / h.

The new line ends north of the tube with the Siegburg / Bonn train station . To the south of the structure, the route meets the federal motorway 3 , which it largely follows to Frankfurt Airport .

The tunnel was completed in 2000.

geology

The tunnel is located in the transition area between the Cologne Bay and the Middle Rhine region , in the transition from the Sieg lowlands to the Pleiser hill country . Basically, soil layers are driven under by backfill (mainly gravel and sand , not artificial), quaternary (mainly silty gravel and sand) and tertiary (with different levels of fine sand and up to one meter thick bands of lignite ) layers.

history

background

The tunnel was not included in the original planning and is based on local requirements. Initially, only a bridge was to be built in its place. The route available at the beginning of 1992 did not yet provide for a tunnel in the Siegburg area. The route included in the regional planning procedure envisaged an above-ground route with two successive bridges south of the 560 motorway. The regional council of Cologne did not consider this solution to be approvable due to the landscape fragmentation involved and called for a largely underground solution.

At the end of 1995, planning included a tunnel 985 m in length.

Overall, the planned tunnel section was extended twice as part of the planning approval procedure . As part of the consensus road between administrative district, district, municipalities and DB ProjektBau, decided on May 27, 1997, the tube was initially extended by 1027 m and the gradient was lowered. This extension to 2202 m, the lowering and the gradient that led back to the surface with a lower incline should serve to protect the Pleisbachtal recreational area . At the end of 1997, 2202 m was still in the planning stage.

The planning approval decision for the section with the tunnel was issued in early 1998. In mid-1999, the planned length of the tunnel was 2,502 m. This corresponds to today's length.

construction

In 1998 a pilot tunnel was driven . The structure, 2.8 m in diameter and 355 m in length, was pre-pressed.

The official start of construction was celebrated in early July 1999. The tunnel sponsorship had Anke Riefers , Mayor of Sankt Augustin adopted. Citizens from the area then had the opportunity to walk the first meters that were driven.

The tunnel was built using the cut-and-cover method over a length of 2132 m. To the south of the Sieg crossing, a 370 m long section below the city center of Niederpleis (crossing under the A 560 to behind the street Am Kirchenberg ) was excavated using mining techniques. At the suggestion of the contractor, an elm tunnel was used. In this section the overburden was between 12 and 15 m.

Using a pilot tunnel 2.8 m in diameter and 355 m in length, the groundwater was lowered by up to five meters in the tunneling area . Despite this measure, the high water pressure under the A 560, in conjunction with a leaky sheet pile wall, led to the formation of a cavity, as a result of which a hand-sized piece of concrete had loosened and water and sand penetrated the tunnel. As a result, the trunk road had to be closed for four days. It was the only water ingress of the 30 tunnel construction sites. The water in the ground was solidified with liquid nitrogen . The substance, which was cold at −196 degrees Celsius, was pumped through pipes and iced the surrounding soil and water. The soil could then be removed with excavators. A total of 1.5 million m³ of liquid nitrogen was used.

The Siegauentunnel is also the only tube on the new line that uses a compressed air process over a length of 155 meters; the pressure in the tube was increased by up to one bar in order to hold back the surrounding groundwater. For this purpose, a 1.30 m thick wall was closed and equipped with locks.

The 14 to 23 feet deep and about 17 feet wide pits were due to lack of space in most cases not sloped be created. In the area of ​​the quaternary gravel and sand, a watertight sheeting with back anchors was carried out. In tertiary clays, a water-permeable sheeting was carried out, which was stiffened because the risk of ground anchors was rated as too high.

On September 28, 2000, the last breakthrough of a tunnel of the high-speed line built using the mining method took place at the Siegauentunnel. The tunnel godmother symbolically released the pressure; then the concrete wall laid to protect the compressed air drive was pierced. A miner presented the tunnel godmother with a statue of Saint Barbara. In his celebratory address, the project manager said that the tunnel was "the most demanding structure of the entire route in terms of mining". The drive went without serious accidents.

The inner shell and track were completed in spring 2001. It was the last completion of a tunnel excavated by miners on the new line. In the spring of 2001, track construction work was still in progress.

For the construction of the tunnel, the Sieg was temporarily relocated over a length of 150 m. The provisional river bed designed in September 1999 was retained when the sealing of the temporarily drained section was removed from October 4, 2000. As a result, the river bed at this point is 60 instead of around 35 m wide. As part of a state program, endangered species should be established in this section in order to benefit from the reduced flow velocities.

At the beginning of 2001, around 4,000 people took the opportunity to visit the structure on foot as part of an open tunnel day .

A total of around 175,000 m³ of concrete , around 19,000 t of reinforcement steel , around 16,000 m² of sheet piling , around 30,000 m² of pile-driven girder shoring and around 26,000 m² of pile walls were used . Around 150,000 m³ of soil was used for a railway embankment. A total of 750,000 m³ of building ground was excavated. Part of the tunnel excavation was heaped up along the A3 and then greened.

Siegquerung

The crossing under the Sieg, over a length of around 50 meters, was carried out in two phases: In a first step, the excavation pits were led from the north and south directly to the river bed. Waterproof sheet pile walls were built to secure them. After the completion of four tunnel blocks north of the Sieg, this section was sealed with transverse bulkheads, the excavation was backfilled and the Sieg was diverted via this section. The original river bed was then narrowed by backfilling a working level. Then sheet pile walls were also erected and the construction pit excavated. After completion of the tube in the crossing area, the river bed of the Sieg was restored in its original form. The upper edge of the shoring was created for the maximum river height of the Sieg in the last ten years plus a safety reserve of 50 cm.

The provisional course of the river was modeled by experts on the natural flow behavior of the Sieg and adapted to the animal and plant species.

Mining section

The most difficult section of the tunnel is the mined section under the A 560 and the community center (construction km 27.220 to 27.590). In a first step, a pilot gallery with a diameter of 2.8 m was pre-pressed above the future tunnel, whereby an open construction method was required in the crossing area with the DN 2200 storage sewer .

Originally it was planned to drive under the A 560 by means of a mine with a cover icing several meters thick. This procedure could be dispensed with after the parties involved agreed. Instead, a less complex cover construction was used. During the construction of the cover, one lane of each four-lane motorway was turned over to the other side. After the restoration of both lanes and an advance excavation of around three meters in height, the tunnel cross-section was completely excavated.

In the following section (150 m), below the community center and the church, tunneling using compressed air was used. An overpressure of 0.8 to 0.9 bar was accompanied by a partial lowering of the groundwater by means of a vacuum deep well. Sufficient drainage for the planned conventional tunneling from the north and south could not be achieved via the pilot tunnel and other large wells that had been built on the forecourt of the church. Sealing methods , such as the HDI process or icing screens, were ruled out due to unfavorable boundary conditions. The compressed air drive took place, exclusively from the south, between November 1999 and March 2000.

In the next section (220 m), in which u. a. the community center and the cemetery are driven under, a mining method with lowering the groundwater level via the pilot tunnel was used. In places were injections made to settlement to avoid.

Cracks found in the parish church of St. Martinus after the tunnel was built were attributed to the underground work. The grave of the St. Augustinian honorary citizen Andreas Schmitz was also damaged, from which drilling fluid shot upwards, which was spread over 20 other graves. Schmitz had campaigned against the tunnel construction for years as a vice-church council for fear of disturbing the peace of the dead.

Installation

Before the new line went into operation, a large-scale rescue exercise took place in the tunnel on May 24, 2002 with around 600 rescue workers and 290 "passengers". It was one of five major damage exercises for the approval of the new line.

As part of the ecological compensation measures for the construction of the new Cologne – Rhine / Main line, the Siegaue was renatured on an area of ​​55 hectares . These measures took place in the area of Agger and Mühlengraben as well as in the Siegbogen between Deichhaus and Niederpleis .

security concept

Rescue stations and emergency exits have been placed at both portals.

The tunnel also has two exits at 50 ° 46 '15.5 "  N , 7 ° 13' 17.6"  O and 50 ° 46 '32.5 "  N , 7 ° 13' 11.5"  O , the lead via stairwells to rescue areas outside.

  • The northern emergency exit (right) with a ventilation shaft (left)

  • The southern emergency exit

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joachim Seyferth: The tunnel book (=  SCHIENE -Photo . Volume 6 ). 1st edition. Joachim Seyferth Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 978-3-926669-06-3 , pp. 98 .
  2. ↑ a b c Without an author: The planning stage . In: Eisenbahn JOURNAL: Tempo 300 - The new Cologne – Frankfurt line . In: Eisenbahn Journal , special edition 3/2002, ISBN 3-89610-095-5 , pp. 12-17.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Christian Sänger, Stefan Hofmann: With high pressure under the victory . In: DB ProjektBau GmbH, Frankfurt (ed.): New Cologne – Rhine / Main line. Bridges and tunnels . Without ISBN, pp. 50–59.
  4. ↑ a b c Moving forward at full speed - the Siegauen tunnel . In: On the subject , ZDB -ID 2115698-0 , edition 2/2000, April 2000, pp. 9-11.
  5. ^ Deutsche Bundesbahn, Federal Railway Directorate Cologne, Main Department N., Press Office: New Cologne-Rhein / Main line: section in North Rhine-Westphalia . Brochure (20 A4 pages) as of March 1992, Cologne 1992, p. 11.
  6. ^ The District President of Cologne (ed.): Regional planning procedure for the new DB line (ICE) Cologne-Rhine / Main: Planning section NRW: Submission to discuss the objections . Cologne, January 1993, ROV C7, pp. 30-32.
  7. ^ Deutsche Bahn AG, network division, project management for the Cologne – Rhein / Main line (publisher): route map for the new Cologne-Rhein / Main line . Map from November 1995, Frankfurt 1995.
  8. ↑ a b c d e DBProjekt GmbH Cologne – Rhein / Main, project management (publisher): New Cologne – Rhein / Main line: North construction section: Cologne – Sankt Augustin , brochure (18 pages), Frankfurt am Main, February 2000, p. 5, 13, 14.
  9. ↑ NBS current: Agreement on routing, building law in Rhineland-Palatinate . In: On the subject , ZDB -ID 2115698-0 , issue 3/1997, p. 7.
  10. ↑ DBProjekt GmbH Cologne – Rhein / Main: New Cologne-Rhein / Main line: route map , Frankfurt, November 1997.
  11. ↑ citizen telephone; Further resolutions . In: On the subject , ZDB -ID 2115698-0 , issue April 1998, p. 9
  12. ↑ DBProjekt GmbH Cologne – Rhine / Main: New Cologne-Rhine / Main line: route map , Frankfurt, June 1999.
  13. ↑ Arguments and views . In: On the subject , ZDB -ID 2115698-0 , edition 6/2000, December 2000, p. 12.
  14. ↑ afforestation; Breakthrough in the Limburg tunnel; Baptism of the Siegauen Tunnel; Bridges completed; Architectural competition . In: DBProjekt Köln-Rhein / Main (Ed.): On the subject , issue 4/1999, Frankfurt am Main, August 1999, p. 8 f.
  15. ↑ Rupert Sternath: The tunnels of the new Cologne-Rhine / Main - opportunities for cost savings . In: Tunnel technology for future tasks in Europe . Balekma-Verlag, Rotterdam 1999, ISBN 90-5809-051-5 , pp. 73-81.
  16. ↑ a b Deutsche Bahn AG (ed.): Seven fairy tale stories about the new DB line Cologne – Rhine / Main . Brochure, 36 pages, Berlin, no year (approx. 2002), p. 29.
  17. ↑ a b A decade for 58 minutes . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 12, 2001, p. 9
  18. ↑ a b Without author: The project for the new Cologne – Rhein / Main line . In: Eisenbahn JOURNAL: Tempo 300 - The new Cologne – Frankfurt line . In: Eisenbahn Journal , special edition 3/2002, ISBN 3-89610-095-5 , pp. 34–63.
  19. ↑ Announcement Environmentally friendly ground freezing with liquid nitrogen . In: Railway technical review . 49, No. 4, 2000, p. 256.
  20. ↑ Without author: Timeline - Chronology of a route . In: Eisenbahn Journal , special edition 3/2002, ISBN 3-89610-095-5 , p. 86 f.
  21. ↑ Niederpleis: last tunnel breakthrough; Victory flows again in the old bed; Old weir at Wörsbach removed . In: On the subject , ZDB -ID 2115698-0 , edition 5/2000, October 2000, p. 7. f.
  22. ^ NBS Cologne - Rhine / Main . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 4/2001, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 146.
  23. ↑ A lot of new things in the north - current status of work in the north construction section . In: On the subject , ZDB -ID 2115698-0 , edition 2/2001, April 2001, pp. 4-6.
  24. ↑ a b c In flight from Cologne to Frankfurt . In: On the subject , ZDB -ID 2115698-0 , edition 3/2001, June 2001, pp. 4-6.
  25. ↑ visitor day in the Siegauen tunnel; Start of construction of the Röttgen stud farm; Groundbreaking bypass; largest switch built in . In: On the subject , ZDB -ID 2115698-0 , edition 2/2001, April 2001, pp. 7–9.
  26. ↑ Axel Vogel: painter and stonemason fill the long cracks. In: General-Anzeiger . August 13, 2003, accessed April 7, 2020 .
  27. ↑ PIETÄT: Railway blows up the tomb. In: Der Spiegel . June 9, 1999, accessed April 7, 2020 .
  28. ↑ Rescue workers practiced on the new line . In: On the subject , ZDB -ID 2115698-0 , edition 3/2002, June 2002, p. 8.
  29. ↑ Implementation of off-line compensation measures . In: On the subject , ZDB -ID 2115698-0 , edition 4/2000, August 2000, pp. 4–7.

Web links

Commons : Siegauentunnel  - Collection of images