What should you do if gas and electricity lines have to cross a busy road? You follow the
principle and you tunnel underneath using press pipes. Sewer specialist Rio-Construct, part of the Dekabo Group, carried out the work, and the other sewer specialist, Deschacht – Utility Pipelines division, supplied the pipes. Bram De Ridder, operational director of Rio-Construct: “The Chaussée de Lille, which connects the Tournai ring road to the E42, is a busy two-lane road. Excavating it was not an option, so distribution network operator ORES commissioned us to push two sleeve pipes under the road near Froyennes – both 22 meters long, one with a 500 mm diameter and one of 600 mm. These casing pipes are to be used for pulling gas and electricity lines through.”
“For such a pipe-jacking operation, we proceed as follows: first, we excavate a work pit on each side of the road down to 4 meters below the road surface. We use an ultra-modern, very compact auger boring machine, so a pit with a diameter of 2 meters is sufficient. We perform a theodolite-guided pilot bore from one pit to the other, after which we install casings of the desired diameter and jack them from the starting pit to the receiving pit. The augers inside the casings remove the soil and transport it to the starting pit. Finally, we jack the carrier pipes along the same route. They push the casings ahead of them, which we remove via the receiving pit.”
“Since we specialize in sewer engineering, we often collaborate with that other specialist: Deschacht, more specifically the utility pipes department. They are our main supplier for everything related to sewers, auger boring, and the like. They supplied us with the GVK jacking pipes. These are glass fiber-reinforced plastic pipes, 1 meter long, with a stainless steel coupling to connect them.”
Deschacht specializes
“This fits into our strategy of specialization in the field of utility lines. We focus specifically on contractors involved in the construction of underground infrastructure such as electricity cables, telecom, drinking water distribution, wastewater drainage, heat networks, fire mains, transmission pipelines, sewer renovation, etc.,” says Nick Van Coppenolle of Deschacht.
Sewer renovation and construction of new sewers.
Rio Construct is your partner for all your sewerage problems from A to Z.
