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10--CONTENTS 05.02.09
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www.nce.co.uk1 05.02.09 NEWCIVil ENGINEER3
NEWS 05
ChannelTunnel
Eurotunnel to reconsider installing sprinklers JEter September's fixe.
19
MIDDLE EAST REPORT
Gulf'sgreatest
NCE takes a look at the major projects that have shaped the region.
26
PLANT
Hydrodemolition
Hydrodemolition is playing a crucial IOlein repairs to the corroded Soderled Tunnel.
Aisein thisissue
14 Analysis
Is the Severn Barrage our way to a low carbon future?
06 News
Eurotunnel admits geotechnical fears
07 News
Sir Alan Muir Wood dies
Letters
Business, environment, transport, structures
16
08 News
Construction to shrink by 3%
28 ICE
News
TomFoulkescomments on the ICE'sopinions
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UKmol EURflS0 1 ROWf200
Comment "How many of Ihe man hours 1051 10 family snowman conslrudion on Monday will be caughl up by Friday?"
Antony Oliver 1
PPÀEditorofthe YearIl we plan to proted inlrastrudure,we can play in the snow
Two stories this week highlight the challenge facedby UKinfrastructure asset managers
-
namelywhat areweprepared to spend to
keep critical services up and running?First the weather. And while the national media has been working very hard to try to find the "we should have been better prepared" story, it is clear that really little more could - or should - have been clone to keep trains, buses, cars or lorries moving.
Yet it has been estimated that Monday's weather cost the UK more that flbn through lost business and productivity. Should we not conclude that this money would be better invested in most robust infrastructure?
Should we not identify where and why the transport systems fell clown and then invest to ensure that this never happens again?
WeIl of course not. The last few Jars have seen the kind of extreme weather that we cannot expect to deal with as a matter of course. And cost-benefit and risk analysis
would clearly bear this out.
For a start, this analysis would question how much of that lost business is really actu- ally lost forever. Taken over the whole month of February, say,would shop takings or busi- ness output really show this clip.
And how maTIr of the man hours lost to family snowman construction on Monday will be caught up by Friday?
Yet in contrast to this successful infra- structure risk assessment and operation we also this week report on decisions being made at the Channel Tunnel in the wake of last September's tire.
At last Eurotunnel seems to have woken up ta the fact that protecting the tunnel infrastructure is every bit as critical to its activities as protecting passenger safety. At last it is looking seriously at installing a tire suppression system for the structure.
The sad thing is that this cash-strapped business had to spend fS4M repairing the
damage from last September's tire and lose another fl80M of business in the five months it took to make the tunnel fully operational. This JEter the first tire in 1996 cost it an estimated f200M.
Eurotunnel first considered an onboard tire suppression system with successful trials in 2004. However, as NCE revealed in October, plans were dumped by a new management team in 2006, JEter concluding that "the system would be unreliable, expensive to main tain and would deliver few benefits to the safety of persons".
Yet, three years, two more tires and some f234M in repairs and lost business later Eurotunnel has now concluded: "We are now looking at preserving the infrastructure."
Any user ofEurotunnel's cross channel rail service should be relieved to see that, as with the UK's response to severe weather, good engineering judgement is at last prevailing.
