Although Europe's second-largest port in Antwerp, Belgium, has more than 1,000 kilometers of railroad tracks, it moves only 8% of its throughput by rail. To help increase train use, the country’s railroad infrastructure manager, Infrabel N.V., has just completed the nation’s longest freight tunnel linking the port’s two halves on either side of the River Scheldt.
The $1.1-billion Liefkenshoek freight tunnel includes roughly 6 km of new 7.3-meter-dia twin bores under the river, bypassing a 20-km route around South Antwerp, says Infrabel’s chief spokesman Frédéric Petit. With TBMs drilling at an average of 15 m a day, "there were no real problems," adds Dirk De Backer, construction manager of TUC Rail N.V., Infrabel’s design and project management firm.