Located amidst unstable geological conditions, the Stuttgart 21 railway project posed a challenging environment for tunnelling. Sulzer’s submersible dewatering pumps successfully dewatered the sites, reducing costs and time for the critical project.
Stuttgart 21 is a railway and urban development project in Stuttgart, Germany. It is a part of the new and upgraded Stuttgart–Augsburg railway and the main transport line for Europe (Paris–Vienna–Bratislava–Budapest) in the Trans-European Transport Networks.
At its core lies Stuttgart’s central station, which is being renewed from a terminal into a through-station and moved completely underground. The project includes 57km of new railways with 34km of tunnels and 25km of high-speed lines.
“The rail project will bring significant improvements as the entire region, including the airport and trade fair center, will be linked to the international rail network.”
Dr. Udo Andriof and Wolfgang Dietrich, Stuttgart-Ulm project spokespersons
The challenge
About 90 per cent of the deep construction work takes place in the city centre. Down-town Stuttgart consists of valleys and hills with vineyards, and also comprises some mineral water springs. The geological conditions are demanding and partly unstable.
There are nine active tunneling sites at the time of writing, each with very limited access and space for logistics and storing of machines and material. The time pressure is great, since even the slightest delay is very costly and critical for the project.
Our customers, the contractors and consortiums of this project, work 24/7 and expect local product and service supply without delay. To fulfill these expectations, three Sulzer hubs offer pumps and spares to meet the high requirements in lead times and express/overnight shipments.
The solution
The groundwater level in Stuttgart has been lowered by deep wells and a central water management pumping and neutralization system, which connects all tunnelling sites in the city and finally ends in the river Neckar.
In a challenging tunnelling environment like this, however, excessive water needs to be removed. Sulzer was able to offer the customer its fleet of portable submersible dewatering pumps for different geological conditions, various construction phases and weather conditions.
Sulzer has already delivered almost one hundred pumps of different models and provided rental pumps to four different tunneling sites of this deep construction project.
Customer benefit
- Technical support from a reliable partner
- Full range of submersible dewatering pumps and accessories
- Reliable, light but wear-resistant submersible drainage and sludge pumps
- The new XJ range dewatering pumps are leading in total efficiency, life-cycle costs and unique features against wear and breakdowns
- Clearly reduced maintenance and breakdown times
- Less spare parts and easy supply due to modular system in the J and XJ ranges
- Outstanding complete solution comprising products, services, concepts and local consulting
- On-site service training for the customer
Product data
With the XJ range of submersible pumps we have been able to introduce this state-of-the-art and still today unique dewatering product directly to the leading tunnel building companies.
The AquaTronic controlling, leveling and data storing functions of the XJ range offer a number of features which are tailor-made for tunneling applications. The power consumption, maintenance costs and unavoidable wear problems are optimized by the XJ range.
AquaTronic combined with new highly efficient electric motors and hydraulics with closed impellers as well as modularity in spare parts give measurable benefits, e.g. lower life-cycle costs of the pump.
The Sulzer difference
- Long-standing experience as a partner for construction companies
- 24/7 product and service supply without delay
- A full range of state-of-the-art submersible dewatering pumps
- The quality and wear resistance of our products are proven in the most wear-intensive applications
- The new XJ range dewatering pumps are leading in total efficiency, life-cycle costs and unique features against wear and breakdowns
This partner solution is brought to you by Sulzer. For information on Sulzer’s range of submersible pumps for dewatering, please visit sulzer.com.
