So far the Gold Coast light rail project, GoldLinQ, one of Australia’s biggest public transport projects and the state’s first light rail system, has applied a range of trenchless techniques.
These have spanned from horizontal directional drilling, thrust boring and microtunnelling – all required to upgrade and relocate underground track services for the project, which is anticipated to commence operation under “˜G:link’ in mid-2014.
The biggest challenge for GoldLinq during this project has been the logistics surrounding management of traffic, pedestrians and work noise.
GoldLinQ ensured that the excavation was managed appropriately to avoid significant disruption to the urban environment by allowing for the excavation of optimal sized trenches.
The typical size of the trench was between 5-7 m long x 3 m wide and up to 2 m deep, in addition, the shoring boxes were sunk into all launch pits.
A combination of steel (enveloper pipe), PVC and PE (product pipes) materials were used during the works.
The enveloper pipe was selected as both the jacking pipes and protection pipes underneath the track slab.
The steel pipes were made of mild steel (uncoated and unlined) and the annulus between the enveloper and carrier pipes were grouted to prevent voids in the sub grade.
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