[7/8/2006 1]
Historic breakthrough in Triangeln rock cavern
Today, history was made in the construction of the Citytunnel. The north and south shafts are now connected by a tunnel which will eventually become Triangeln station.
‘A historic event, a milestone in the project’, says Örjan Larsson, Citytunneln Project Manager.
Breakthrough |
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Tunnel workers shaking hands through the hole in the rock face. |
It was at precisely 14.53 on Saturday that the roadheader, a sort of gigantic milling machine, with a huge roar broke through the last few centimetres of limestone that stood between the north and south central tunnels. Now for the first time there is a connection 25 m below ground to what will eventually become Triangeln, Sweden’s third largest station in terms of numbers of passengers.
To cheers and applause from a small band of spectators, delighted tunnel workers from both sides were able to shake hands through the hole in the rock face.
The ‘godmother’ of the rock cavern, Malmö City Manager Inger Nilsson, was also on site to take part in this historic event. ‘It felt absolutely wonderful’, she said.
Since March, the work of cutting a central tunnel for the rock cavern has been proceeding from both the northern and southern shafts. This central tunnel is a smaller tunnel that passes through the centre of what will be the station space. The northern shaft is in front of St Johannes Church, and the southern one is located near the Faculty of Odontology on Smedjegatan. The shafts are approximately 25 m deep. Both will eventually become access ways to the station, which will have twin tracks and a 250 m island platform.
The tunnel-cutting work has been completely successful and the breakthrough occurred on schedule.
Now, work on the central tunnel will continue. The lower part of the northern tunnel is to be excavated, and work on concrete pouring has already begun in the southern shaft. After that, removal of rock to form the actual station space will begin. The whole station area should completely cleared out during the spring of 2007.
The Citytunnel in Malmö consists of 17 km of railway connecting Malmö Central Station with the Öresund Bridge, as well as linking up the Scania railway network and increasing rail traffic capacity for the future. Six km passes underneath central Malmö, and the other 11 km is surface railway.
Malmö Central Station is being extended with an underground section. New stations are being built at Triangeln and Hyllie.
The first spit was dug on 8 March 2005. The Citytunnel is planned to be complete in 2011. The budget for the project is SEK 9.45 billion at 2001 values.