The Liffey Service Tunnel is a service tunnel for various pipelines in Dublin, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, owned by Dublin City Council.

The tunnel was designed by Atkins and constructed by a Joint Venture of the German Contractor Ed. Züblin AG, Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

 and the Irish Contractor Cleary & Doyle Contracting Ltd., Wexford

Wexford

Wexford is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. It is situated near the southeastern corner of Ireland, close to Rosslare Europort. The town is connected to Dublin via the M11/N11 National Primary Route, and the national rail network...

. Construction period was from September 2006 until October 2008.

Tunnel specifications

• Length: 260 m
• Bores: 1
• Bore width: 2.96 m
• No. of Pipes: 107

Tunnel design

The tunnel is built in pipe-jacking using a Herrenknecht tunnel boring machine

Tunnel boring machine

A tunnel boring machine also known as a "mole", is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They can bore through anything from hard rock to sand. Tunnel diameters can range from a metre to almost 16 metres to date...

 (TBM) and 2.5m long precast reinforced concrete pipes.
The tunnel leads from the southern edge of the East Link Bridge, underneath the River Liffey

River Liffey

The Liffey is a river in Ireland, which flows through the centre of Dublin. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the River Poddle and the River Camac. The river supplies much of Dublin's water, and a range of recreational opportunities.-Name:The river was previously named An Ruirthech,...

 towards the North Quay Wall, approx. 150m west of The Point Theatre.
The drive and reception shafts are 19 resp. 22m deep, leaving the tunnel passing approx. 8m below the shipping channel of the river.

External links

• Dublin City Council official website
• Atkins page on the project
• Ed. Züblin AG official website
• Cleary & Doyle Contracting Ltd. official website
• Herrenknecht AG — makers of the tunnel boring machine used.