Groundforce supports Sweden’s largest infrastructure project
The VP company Groundforce has provided support equipment for tunnel excavation on part of the 8 km long Västlänken in Gothenburg.
Västlänken – or Västlänken – is Sweden’s largest infrastructure project. It is an 8 km long double-track railway, of which 6 km will go in a tunnel under the city of Gothenburg.
The crossroads in the project is being built by the Swedish contractor NCC and the German Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau. This involves the construction of approximately 3.2 km of double track, most of which is in a tunnel, plus a new metro station at the transport hub Korsvägen in central Gothenburg.
The specialist contractor Hercules Grundläggning has been commissioned to establish two 600m long parallel sheet pile retaining walls in which a concrete chipping and covering tunnel will be built.
To support this excavation – which varies in width from 17m to 30m and reaches up to 15m in depth – Hercules has chosen modular hydraulic supports from Groundforce.
The specialist in building solutions has delivered 58 MP375 props with a capacity of 375 tons and 26 MP750, which can withstand pressures of 750 tons.
Groundforce’s European Sales Manager Sam Oldroyd said: “The first supplies were delivered in mid-June, and we will remain in place for the next two years.”
The props are installed on either two or three levels along the huge excavation. The larger MP750 is used to support the wider sections.
This contract is the largest assignment Hercules has ever undertaken.
The work is being carried out in a lively district, with the existing main line along one side and the E6, one of Sweden’s busiest roads, following on the other side.
Hercules project manager Mats Olsson said: “The limited space makes it impossible to store equipment on site.
“We are very dependent on just-in-time deliveries and even though we have a yard in Gothenburg where we can temporarily store materials, logistics has been a great challenge.”
Groundforce said that its modular supplies have the advantage of being quick and easy to install and disassemble.
“I have used this equipment before, but only in a few small projects,” Olsson added. “But the fact that it is so easy to assemble and disassemble the equipment is a really big reason to use it here.”
The western link, which aims to improve train travel in Gothenburg and western Sweden, is expected to be operational in 2026.