CIVIL FITTING OUT AND LOGISTICAL PROCESS - The Westerschelde Tunnel: Approaching Limits - page 213

Logistics department
The Logistics Department, in which 90 people worked, was responsible for
all the ins and outs of the logistical process. All the interests of the parties
involved in the construction came together here and all the construction
activities had to be co-ordinated with each other.The staff of the department,
who were in close contact with the project managers of the various works
which were carried out simultaneously, consisted of site managers, mechanical
engineering experts who were responsible for the 'rolling stock', a logistics
co-ordinator and traffic controllers and yardmasters.
The yardmaster was responsible for the assembling of the trains.The traffic
controller controlled the goings of the trains and was responsible for deliver-
ing the right orders on time. Each driver was obliged to carry out the instruc-
tions which were given to him by traffic control.
Two rules formed the starting point for determining the priorities for the daily
flow of traffic in the tunnel tubes, which was the responsibility of traffic control:
personnel must be able to reach and leave the place of work punctually and
safely and the progress of the boring process must not be endangered.
In order to prevent 'special' transport from obstructing the train traffic for the
boring process and the construction of the roadbed, this transport had to be
organised carefully to fit 'in between' the standard transport. Work requiring
the use of railway-related cranes, which blocked the main railway track in the
tunnel, therefore required particularly careful planning.
The materials required for the boring process were ordered by the Shift-
master from the TBM by fax to prevent any lack of clarity. The order went to
the central traffic control managers, who sent the order on to the (internal)
supplier of the grout, sand-cement, and the other materials required.
In order to prevent the supply of segments from stopping, there was always an
intermediate storage available outside the tunnel of two left-hand and two
right-hand rings loaded on train carriages. When a ring was ordered from this
intermediate stock, the stock was immediately supplemented again with the
same type of ring.
Fig. 14.8
The loading of a train
with segments