Soletanche Bachy France is currently carrying out works package T2A for the Grand Paris Express at Vert-de-Maison station, the largest freezing project in the last 30 years.
Freezing is being used to secure the traditional excavation of some of the platforms and platform access areas for the future station. In order to monitor temperatures in real time during the freezing phase, temperature probes have been installed in boreholes drilled into the frozen rock. Design and planning of the excavation work require probes to be installed in the tunnel vault while the tunnel boring machine is still digging the section.
In close collaboration with the worksite teams and the Eurofrance Equipment Department (SME), the Equipment Engineering and Manufacturing Department (DIFM) has designed and manufactured a custom work platform responding to the worksite’s constraints, including drilling in under blow in the tunnel vault while maintaining clearance for traffic, personnel and pipes.
After a month and a half of activity, drilling for the probes has recently been successfully completed and the platform is currently being dismantled.