Heathrow Tunnel Collapse 1994 Example

Heathrow Tunnel Collapse 1994 Example Heathrow Tunnel Collapse 1994 â€" Assignment Example > Heathrow Tunnel Collapse 1994Table of ContentsIntroduction- 3Analysis of the Accident- 3Consequences of the Accident- 7Lessons Learned from the Accident- 8Assessment of the Implications if such accident happen in Preston- 9Conclusion- 9Bibliography- 11IntroductionIn 1994, a new underground railway tunnel and station were under construction beneath the Central Terminal Are of London’s Heathrow airport. During October, a section of the station collapsed and this led to the partial collapse of a building above it. Further collapses occurred during the next few days but fortunately, no one was injured. The purpose of this report is to investigate and conduct an analysis of this accident and find out the consequences and lessons learned from it. Moreover, the report would assess the implications of such accident if it would happen to Preston. Finally, it would a brief conclusion of the findings. Analysis of the AccidentThe Heathrow Express project was conceived in 1986 as part of stu dy to look at improving access links between Central London and Heathrow airport. The rail link runs on the existing British main line from Paddington to north of the M4 from where, there is 8 km of new alignment to service stations in the Central Terminal Area and at Terminal 4 or T4. The T4 station comprises of two platform tunnels with central concourse at one end. These are connected by a series of cross-passages and intersected by the North and South Ventilation tunnels at each end of the station. The larges project under construction during that time, Heathrow Express was due to commence operations in June 1998. BAA will be the sole operator of the service, working in conjunction with Railtrack, which owns the line between Paddington and the airport junction. The service will operate brand new rolling stock to cut the time from Central London to Heathrow to some 15 minutes and will include check-in facilities at Paddington. It is planned to offer an additional service from St . Pancras station to Heathrow in 1999. It is estimated by BAA that the opening of the Heathrow will remove around 1.1 million vehicle journeys a year to the airport. This will make a major contribution to the reduction of road traffic in the airport area, which attracts more than 16,000 train, bus and coach arrivals every day. The company aims to encourage 50% of its passengers to use public transport to travel to and from the airport (Cole 2003, p. 236). Prior to the collapse of the Central Terminal or CTA station tunnels, the Contractor, Balfour Beatty or BBCEL, with Geoconsult as designed, was responsible for the primary support, while Mott MacDonald or MM was responsible for the permanent support systems and each design section was independently checked by Faber Maunsell (British Tunnelling Society 2004, p. 144). The tunnel is a £60m contract to build the main tunnels and stations for the Heathrow Express from Paddington to the airport. However, nine months into the work a ma jor tunnelling collapse occurred. The total extra-unplanned cost has been reported at £422.7m or seven times the original tunnelling contract price (Blockley and Godfrey 2000, p. 275)