Real-size Belgrade subway tunnel model built – Second phase of explorations in busy streets to begin in several weeks

The first phase of the geological explorations for the Belgrade subway system has been completed. Permits for the second one are now being obtained, and the works should start in a few weeks. Although there will be works on busy streets and roads, the acting director of the PUC Belgrade Metro and Train, Andreja Mladenovic, says that they strive not to hamper the daily pace of the city and to complete the works as soon as possible.

When it comes to the structure located on the plot of Mostogradnja in Batajnica, laypersons might say that it’s a simple concrete circle, with a diameter of nearly nine meters. For experts, that is a prototype of the future tunnel of the Belgrade subway in real size. At first sight, it seems just big enough for one subway train to pass through it. However, the engineers say that there’s room for installations, ventilation and two sets of tracks. After the rock and soil is excavated, special tunnel-boring machines (TBMs), better known as “moles”, will also mount concrete coverings.

– An excavation with a width of a single ring, that is, a covering of around 1.6 meters, will be done. With that same machine, the ring is then set up and it is then sealed – explains Vladimir Madzarevic, the head of the project from the Mostogradnja company.

One circle has been built, but the tunnel from Bele Vode to Karaburma, 11.4 kilometers long, requires as many as 7,200 concrete circles. That is why, in Bele Vode, precisely in the spot where the “mole” enters the ground, a factory will be built as well, where a half of the 50,000 coverings will be produced.

Madzarevic says that the concrete rings will be mutually connected by special elements.

– They won’t be anchored to the ground and there won’t be any additional activities. After that, the injection of the upper part above the ring with mass will be done, in order to strengthen the point of contact between the ring and the ground – adds Madzarevic.

As for the second phase of the geological explorations, it will be done in busy streets, such as Pozeska, Vojvode Misica Boulevard on one side and Dunavska, Republic Square, Savska and Mostarska petlja on the other side.

Andreja Mladenovic says that, at this point, permits for the first relocation of the installations are being obtained too.

– I believe that, by the end of August, we will start moving the heating infrastructure in Vodovodska and Trgovacka streets, which should be completed by the beginning of the heating season – adds Mladenovic.

The installation of rain collectors is in progress in Makisko polje, and the construction of access roads and camps, an operating building, five big halls and a substation is to begin soon. The design for the obtaining of the building permit and location requirements for 15 stations, 10 manholes and the tunnel section is being prepared as well. Two “moles” are to arrive from China in the spring.

JKP Beogradski metro i voz Beograd

Mostogradnja a.d. Beograd

PUC Belgrade Metro and Train

Mostogradnja Batajnica

Andreja Mladenović

Vladimir Madžarević

Belgrade Subway