The collapse of a Himalayan highway tunnel in Uttarakhand, India, trapped 40 workers, sparking a challenging rescue operation. The incident occurred on November 12, 2023, and the workers are reported to be in good health, being supplied with food, water, and air through pipes. The affected portion of the tunnel was about 40 meters long, and rescue efforts were hampered by the continued collapse of the roof of the tunnel as they attempted to install a steel casing large enough for the workers to crawl through. The 4.5-km (3-mile) tunnel is being constructed along the Char Dham Hindu pilgrimage route as part of a major road-building initiative by the Indian government. Source: Reuters.
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The latest information to come out of the collapse of a subway tunnel excavation in Cologne, Germany is that investigators are evaluating the ground anchors or tiebacks that were holding open the subway tunnel excavation. There doesn’t appear to be much information available to the public yet, and the New Civil Engineer article mostly quoted academics saying an anchor failure “could” have caused the collapse. Apparently at the time of the collapse, the excavation had reached the bottom depth after the slurry walls had been constructed along with the ground anchor system. Crews were supposedly working on the base slab which would have undoubtedly stiffened up the whole system. For what its worth, an anonymous comment left at the bottom of that article indicated that after half of the debris had been excavated, the diaphragm walls were still intact and without apparent displacement. So what other theories have been floated? Read on for more info. (Image Credit: New Civil Engineer)