Misplaced Pages

#539460

57-517: The Boring Company ( TBC ) is an American infrastructure, tunnel construction services, and equipment company founded by Elon Musk . TBC was founded as a subsidiary of SpaceX in 2017, and was spun off as a separate corporation in 2018. TBC has completed one tunneling project that is open to the public, as well as multiple test tunnels. In 2018, TBC completed one tunnel for testing in Los Angeles County , California . In 2021, TBC completed

114-565: A tunnelling shield . For intermediate levels, both methods are possible. Large cut-and-cover boxes are often used for underground metro stations, such as Canary Wharf tube station in London. This construction form generally has two levels, which allows economical arrangements for ticket hall, station platforms, passenger access and emergency egress, ventilation and smoke control, staff rooms, and equipment rooms. The interior of Canary Wharf station has been likened to an underground cathedral, owing to

171-547: A $ 100,000 fine. Inquiries and discussions have been held with Boring Company for various projects. In February 2021, Miami mayor Francis Suarez revealed that Musk had proposed to dig a two-mile tunnel under the Miami River for $ 30 million, within a six-month timescale, compared with $ 1 billion over four years estimated by the local transit authority. Much of the savings would be achieved by simplifying ventilation systems and allowing only electric vehicles. As of November 2023,

228-642: A 30 m (98 ft)-long 500 mm (20 in)-diameter, this time with a turn radius. Five teams from four countries—the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, and Switzerland—made the finals and journeyed to Texas to compete. TUM Boring again won with a design that reached a maximum velocity of 7 mm/s (0.28 in/s). Swissloop Tunneling finished second overall and won the innovation award. Civil engineering experts and tunneling industry veterans questioned whether TBC could render tunnels faster and cheaper than competitors. Tunnelling Journal dismissed

285-500: A September 2021 competition. The winning team was TUM Boring from Technical University of Munich who managed to excavate a 22 m (72 ft) bore while meeting the requisite safety requirements. TUM Boring used a conventional pipe jacking method to build the tunnel, but employed a novel revolving pipe storage design to minimize downtime between pipe segments. A second competition was held in April 2023. New contest criteria required

342-621: A TBM to Switzerland, for the expansion of the Linth–Limmern Power Stations located south of Linthal in the canton of Glarus . The borehole has a diameter of 8.03 metres (26.3 ft). The four TBMs used for excavating the 57-kilometre (35 mi) Gotthard Base Tunnel , in Switzerland , had a diameter of about 9 metres (30 ft). A larger TBM was built to bore the Green Heart Tunnel (Dutch: Tunnel Groene Hart) as part of

399-764: A fire extinguisher, which he described as "overpriced... but this one comes with a cool sticker." In 2020, TBC released rules for a student tunnel-boring competition. The first competition was held in Las Vegas in September 2021. Officially named the Not-a-Boring Competition , the challenge was to "quickly and accurately drill a tunnel that was 30 m (98 ft)-long and 30 cm (0.98 ft)-wide." Applications were received from 400 potential participants. A technical design review left 12 teams that were invited to Las Vegas to demonstrate their engineering solution in

456-594: A fraction of the capacity of a conventional rapid-transit subway. James Moore, director of transportation engineering at the University of Southern California, said that "there are cheaper ways to provide better transportation for large numbers of people," such as managing traffic with tolls. Public transit consultant Jarrett Walker called TBC "wildly hyped," and criticized how the company "dazzled city governments and investors with visions of an efficient subway where you never have to get out of your car, [but turned] out to be

513-542: A guide-way for autonomous vehicle operation, and supports car trips at speeds of 90 mph (140 km/h) with autonomous control and up to 116 mph (187 km/h) under human control. In May 2019, the company won a $ 48.7 million project to shuttle visitors in a loop underneath the LVCC. Boring of the first tunnel, 4,475 feet (1,364 m) long, began on November 15, 2019, and finished on February 14, 2020, excavating an average of 49 feet (15 m) per day. In May 2020,

570-462: A paved road tunnel." Tunnel construction There are three basic types of tunnel construction in common use: In 2017 experiences show that city subway TBM tunnels cost approximately 500 Million EUR per kilometer. In Switzerland a kilometer of motorway tunnel was roughly calculated at 300 Million CHF, at the time 200 Million Eur. The undersea tunnel between Denmark and Germany is planned for 425 Million per km, in 2015. Cut-and-cover

627-606: A pipe jack, with the span of some box jacks in excess of 20 metres (66 ft). A cutting head is normally used at the front of the box being jacked, and spoil removal is normally by excavator from within the box. Recent developments of the Jacked Arch and Jacked deck have enabled longer and larger structures to be installed to close accuracy. The 126m long 20m clear span underpass below the high speed rail lines at Cliffsend in Kent, UK. There are also several approaches to underwater tunnels,

SECTION 10

#1732852208540

684-595: A private tunnel underway to allow direct access from the hotel to LVCC. In October 2021, Clark County Commissioners approved a 50-year franchise agreement for a 52-stop, mostly-underground system, a "16-mile (26 km) dual loop system...operating mainly in the Resort Corridor with stations at various resorts and connections to Allegiant Stadium , Brightline West Las Vegas Station, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas ." TBC planned to build five to ten stations during

741-676: A variety of different backgrounds, including those from SpaceX. The company began designing its own tunnel boring machines , and completed several tests in Hawthorne, California . The Hawthorne test tunnel opened to the public on December 18, 2018. After raising US$ 113 million from Musk and flamethrower sales during 2018, the Boring Company sold $ 120 million in stock to venture capital firms in July 2019. By November 2019, Steve Davis had become company president after leading efforts for Musk since 2016. Davis

798-411: Is a simple method of construction for shallow tunnels where a trench is excavated and roofed over with an overhead support system strong enough to carry the load of what is to be built above the tunnel. Two basic forms of cut-and-cover tunnelling are available: Shallow tunnels are often of the cut-and-cover type (if under water, of the immersed-tube type), while deep tunnels are excavated, often using

855-402: Is going to be built. A shaft normally has concrete walls and is usually built to be permanent. Once the access shafts are complete, TBMs are lowered to the bottom and excavation can start. Shafts are the main entrance in and out of the tunnel until the project is completed. If a tunnel is going to be long, multiple shafts at various locations may be bored so that entrance to the tunnel is closer to

912-490: Is that the open building pit is muted after tunnel construction; no roof is placed. Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994#National Council of Occupational Safety and Health The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 ( Malay : Akta Keselamatan dan Kesihatan Pekerjaan 1994 ) is a piece of Malaysian legislation which was gazetted on 24 February 1994 by the Malaysian Parliament . The principle of

969-597: Is to use the geological stress of the surrounding rock mass to stabilize the tunnel, by allowing a measured relaxation and stress reassignment into the surrounding rock to prevent full loads becoming imposed on the supports. Based on geotechnical measurements, an optimal cross section is computed. The excavation is protected by a layer of sprayed concrete, commonly referred to as shotcrete . Other support measures can include steel arches, rock bolts and mesh. Technological developments in sprayed concrete technology have resulted in steel and polypropylene fibres being added to

1026-605: The Brownsville Ship Channel . It would allow SpaceX's Boca Chica facility to remain accessible if Highway 4, its sole access road was closed. In January 2019, Musk responded to an Australian member of parliament regarding a tunnel through the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney, suggesting costs of $ 750 million for a 31-mile (50 km) tunnel, plus $ 50 million per station. In 2018, the company began offering 20,000 "flamethrowers" for preordering. The "flamethrower"

1083-515: The First World War , the system was used by Royal Engineer tunnelling companies to put mines beneath the German Empire lines. The method was virtually silent and so not susceptible to listening methods of detection. A temporary access shaft is sometimes necessary during the excavation of a tunnel. They are usually circular and go straight down until they reach the level at which the tunnel

1140-775: The HSL-Zuid in the Netherlands, with a diameter of 14.87 metres (48.8 ft). This in turn was superseded by the Madrid M30 ringroad , Spain , and the Chong Ming tunnels in Shanghai , China . All of these machines were built at least partly by Herrenknecht . As of January 2023 , the largest TBM by head diameter ever built was the Tuen Mun–Chek Lap Kok TBM , a 17.6-metre (58 ft) diameter machine built by Herrenknecht , for

1197-491: The Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) Loop , which is a three-station transportation system consisting of 1.7 miles (2.7 km) of tunnels. As of April 2024, a segment to Resorts World Las Vegas is also open, and tunnels to Encore and Westgate resorts are being finalised. The system is planned to expand to a total of 68 miles (109 km) of tunnels in Las Vegas. Many other TBC projects in cities across

SECTION 20

#1732852208540

1254-601: The Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link in Hong Kong . Clay-kicking is a specialised method developed in the United Kingdom of digging tunnels in strong clay-based soil structures. Unlike previous manual methods of using mattocks which relied on the soil structure to be hard, clay-kicking was relatively silent and hence did not harm soft clay-based structures. The clay-kicker lies on a plank at a 45-degree angle away from

1311-485: The 5-mile (8.0 km) round-trip tunnel would be between $ 90 and $ 100 million, including stations. As of December 2022, the city suspended efforts to continue the project. In August 2021, a preliminary concept discussion was held with officials of Cameron County on the potential construction of a tunnel from South Padre Island to Boca Chica Beach in South Texas . If built, the tunnel would be required to pass beneath

1368-641: The Act is "To make further provision for securing that safety, health and welfare of persons at work, for protecting others against risks to safety or health in connection with the activities of persons at work, to establish the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health and for matters connected therewith." The Act applies throughout Malaysia to the industries specified in the First Schedule. Nothing in this act shall apply to work aboard ships governed by

1425-451: The LVCVA is paying the Boring Company an additional $ 4.5 million annually, which equates to $ 7.50 per ride. In February 2024, OSHA found several safety violations in the Boring Company, including 8 serious violations and allegations that workers have faced chemical burns from sludge while working in the tunnels. The company challenged the ruling; however, an article by Fortune revealed details about

1482-497: The Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952 [Ord. No. 70 of 1952], the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1960 of Sabah [Sabah Ord. No. 11 of 1960] or Sarawak [Sarawak Ord. No. 2 of 1960] or the armed forces. The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994, in its current form (1 January 2006), consists of 15 Parts containing 67 sections and 3 schedules (including no amendment). The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health

1539-651: The Strip, Harry Reid International Airport , Allegiant Stadium, downtown Las Vegas, and eventually to Los Angeles. TBC claims that once complete, the Vegas Loop would be able to transport more than 90,000 passengers per hour. In March 2024, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors voted to extend the existing tunnel, and vowed to address concerns that rose over Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) violations by TBC, which had resulted in

1596-455: The TBM "porpoise" in and out of the ground. The TBM is trucked in and placed at an angle to the ground. (Prufrock 2 and 3 required an earthen ramp to set it at the correct angle before beginning to tunnel). It then bores into the ground. It changes angles as it continues boring, eventually returning to the surface and being loaded onto the truck. In conventional systems, one large excavation is made at

1653-401: The TBM at a position free from water. Despite these difficulties, TBMs are now preferred over the older method of tunnelling in compressed air, with an air lock /decompression chamber some way back from the TBM, which required operators to work in high pressure and go through decompression procedures at the end of their shifts, much like deep-sea divers . In February 2010, Aker Wirth delivered

1710-493: The United States have been announced, but subsequently were cancelled or became inactive due to a lack of activity from the company. Musk announced the idea of the Boring Company in December 2016, and it was officially registered as "TBC – The Boring Company" on January 11, 2017. Musk cited difficulty with Los Angeles traffic, and what he sees as limitations of its two-dimensional transportation network, as his early inspiration for

1767-503: The boring of the second tunnel was completed, for a total of 1.7 miles (2.7 km) of tunnels. The tunnel opened in October 2021. Standard Tesla vehicles with human drivers are used as shuttles, traveling at about 35 miles per hour (56 km/h). The service was described by Las Vegas Tourism as "an important step in the development of a game-changing transportation solution in Las Vegas." Testing with volunteers in late May 2021 showed that

The Boring Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

1824-498: The city is waiting for the Miami Dade Transportation Planning Organization to complete an analysis of the project. In July 2021, Fort Lauderdale, Florida , accepted a proposal from the Boring Company for a tunnel between downtown and the beach, to be dubbed the " Las Olas Loop." In August 2021, the city was beginning final negotiations with TBC, and Mayor Dean Trantalis estimated the total cost of

1881-511: The company announced an additional $ 675 million Series C funding round, valuing the company at approximately $ 5.675 billion. The round was led by Vy Capital and Sequoia Capital , with participation from Valor Equity Partners, Founders Fund , 8VC, Craft Ventures , and DFJ Growth . In 2022, the company was cited by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for five violations of Texas environmental regulations. Sometime before April 2023,

1938-516: The company as a "vanity project." Musk's planned tunnels were criticized for lacking such safety features as emergency exit corridors, ventilation systems, or fire suppression. In addition, the single lane tunnels left it impossible for vehicles to pass one another in the event of collision, mechanical failure, or other traffic obstruction, and instead would shut down the entire tunnel section. The low capacity of TBC tunnels make them inefficient when compared to existing public transit solutions, with only

1995-574: The company moved their headquarters and engineering facilities to Bastrop, Texas , approximately 25 miles (40 km) east of Texas Gigafactory. Tunnels connecting different parts of the Las Vegas Convention Center are open, and a tunnel to Resorts World began operating in July 2023. Due to operational expenses, it is probable that the Boring Company is subsidizing the Loop to keep customer prices low. A day pass from Resorts World costs $ 5, while

2052-593: The concrete mix to improve lining strength. This creates a natural load-bearing ring, which minimizes the rock's deformation . By special monitoring the NATM method is flexible, even at surprising changes of the geomechanical rock consistency during the tunneling work. The measured rock properties lead to appropriate tools for tunnel strengthening . In the last decades also soft ground excavations up to 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) became usual. In pipe jacking , hydraulic jacks are used to push specially made pipes through

2109-605: The construction of the Las Vegas tunnel, citing numerous employee accounts that described the working conditions as "almost unbearable." In April 2024, the Boring Company was named among the "Dirty Dozen," the worst workplace safety offenders in the USA, by the National Council of Occupational Safety and Health . The first boring machine used by TBC was Godot, a conventional tunnel boring machine (TBM) made by Lovat . TBC then designed their own line of machines called Prufrock. Prufrock 1

2166-427: The design stage. Prufrock 4 is 308 feet long. It weighs 797,000 lb (362 t). It produces up to 4.7 million pounds of thrust. The goal is to triple tunneling speed and improve cooling systems. TBC claims to be redesigning the entire tunnel boring process to reduce cost, accelerate tunnel completion, improve safety, and reduce site impacts. Innovations include: Replace tunnel entry and exit excavations by having

2223-407: The entire tunnelling process, reducing tunnelling costs. In certain predominantly urban applications, tunnel boring is viewed as quick and cost effective alternative to laying surface rails and roads. Expensive compulsory purchase of buildings and land, with potentially lengthy planning inquiries, is eliminated. Disadvantages of TBMs arise from their usually large size – the difficulty of transporting

2280-434: The first year, and then add approximately 16 stations per year thereafter. TBC would be responsible for funding the tunnel, while station costs would be funded by the resort properties and landowners. In May 2023, TBC was given permission to build the Vegas Loop underground transportation system to 69 stations for a tunnel network of 65 miles (105 km). It would include the existing LVCC Loop and extensions to casinos along

2337-415: The front end, allowing them to be used in difficult conditions below the water table . This pressurizes the ground ahead of the TBM cutter head to balance the water pressure. The operators work in normal air pressure behind the pressurised compartment, but may occasionally have to enter that compartment to renew or repair the cutters. This requires special precautions, such as local ground treatment or halting

The Boring Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

2394-405: The ground behind a TBM or shield. This method is commonly used to create tunnels under existing structures, such as roads or railways. Tunnels constructed by pipe jacking are normally small diameter bores with a maximum size of around 3.2 metres (10 ft). Box jacking is similar to pipe jacking, but instead of jacking tubes, a box-shaped tunnel is used. Jacked boxes can be a much larger span than

2451-399: The inevitable smoke and steam. A major disadvantage of cut-and-cover is the widespread disruption generated at the surface level during construction. This, and the availability of electric traction, brought about London Underground's switch to bored tunnels at a deeper level towards the end of the 19th century. Tunnel boring machines and associated back-up systems are used to highly automate

2508-410: The large TBM to the site of tunnel construction, or (alternatively) the high cost of assembling the TBM on-site, often within the confines of the tunnel being constructed. There are a variety of TBM designs that can operate in a variety of conditions, from hard rock to soft water-bearing ground. Some types of TBMs, the bentonite slurry and earth-pressure balance machines, have pressurised compartments at

2565-540: The operation of empty and loaded trains at the same time. The temporary way is replaced by the permanent way at completion, thus explaining the term " Perway ". The vehicles or traffic using a tunnel can outgrow it, requiring replacement or enlargement: An open building pit consists of a horizontal and a vertical boundary that keeps groundwater and soil out of the pit. There are several potential alternatives and combinations for (horizontal and vertical) building pit boundaries. The most important difference with cut-and-cover

2622-431: The project. The Boring Company was formed as a SpaceX subsidiary . According to Musk, the company's goal is to enhance tunneling speed enough such that establishing a tunnel network is financially feasible. In early 2018, the Boring Company was spun out from SpaceX and into a separate corporate entity . Somewhat less than 10% of equity was given to early employees, and over 90% to Elon Musk. Early employees came from

2679-528: The sheer size of the excavation. This contrasts with many traditional stations on London Underground , where bored tunnels were used for stations and passenger access. Nevertheless, the original parts of the London Underground network, the Metropolitan and District Railways, were constructed using cut-and-cover. These lines pre-dated electric traction and the proximity to the surface was useful to ventilate

2736-422: The system could transport 4,400 passengers per hour. The system started transporting convention attendees on June 8, 2021. Designed to solve traffic congestion , the tunnel was intended to provide trips of less than two minutes, but has faced a number of traffic jams during busy events in 2021 and 2022. The tunnel to Resorts World Las Vegas opened in July 2022. As of April 2024, Las Vegas strip hotel Encore has

2793-554: The tunnel can be raised with ground or buildings (for instance parking facilities) to improve the integration of the tunnel in the immediate area. A good early example of such a land tunnel is the A2 motorway tunnel at Leidsche Rijn, near the Dutch city of Utrecht. During construction of a tunnel it is often convenient to install a temporary railway, particularly to remove excavated spoil , often narrow gauge so that it can be double track to allow

2850-428: The tunnel entrance to allow the TBM to be lowered to the tunnel depth and assembled. A similar excavation is made at the tunnel exit to allow the TBM to be disassembled and lifted out. TBC moves tunnel lining segments into the tunnel via an all-electric autonomous, wheeled liner truck powered by motors and batteries from Tesla . Conventional systems typically use a diesel rail system, which must be constructed along with

2907-533: The tunnel lining. TBC is working to install ring liners without stopping tunneling. Conventional systems stop every five feet or so to install another segment of the tunnel lining, and to extend the rail line. The goal is to increase tunneling time/day from 11 hours to 24 hours. TBC built a 1.14-mile (1.83 km) high-speed tunnel in 2017 on a route in Hawthorne, California , at the SpaceX headquarters and manufacturing facility. The tunnel roadway has an asphalt surface,

SECTION 50

#1732852208540

2964-426: The two most common being bored tunnels or immersed tubes , examples are Bjørvika Tunnel and Marmaray . Submerged floating tunnels are a novel approach under consideration; however, no such tunnels have been constructed to date. A new kind of tunnels is used to reduce the environmental impact of motorways or railways: land tunnels. These are not underground tunnels, but built at ground level. The urban area next to

3021-416: The unexcavated area. Once construction is complete, construction access shafts are often used as ventilation shafts , and may also be used as emergency exits. The New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) was developed in the 1960s and is the best known of a number of engineering practices that use calculated and empirical measurements to provide safe support to the tunnel lining. The main idea of this method

3078-454: The working face and inserts a tool with a cup-like rounded end with the feet. Turning the tool manually, the kicker extracts a section of soil, which is then placed on the waste extract. Used in Victorian civil engineering, the method found favour in the renewal of Britain's ancient sewerage systems, by not having to remove all property or infrastructure to create a small tunnel system. During

3135-404: Was a blow torch shaped to look like a gun and is legal in all U.S. states except Maryland. All 20,000 "flamethrowers" were sold in just a few days. After customs officials said that they would not allow imports of any items called "flamethrowers," Musk announced that he would rename them to "Not-A-Flamethrower" since the devices were in fact akin to roofing torches. Musk announced separate sales of

3192-504: Was one of the earliest hires at SpaceX (in 2003) and has twin master's degrees in particle physics and aerospace engineering, as well as degrees in finance and mechanical engineering. In November 2020, TBC announced hiring for positions in Austin, Texas, and by December 2020 had leased two buildings in a 14-acre (5.7 ha) industrial complex northeast of Austin, approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of Texas Gigafactory . On April 20, 2022,

3249-500: Was unveiled in 2020, and was used mostly for testing. Engadget reported that the Prufrock 2, which was unveiled in August 2022, could dig up to a mile per week. Prufrock 3 was planned to dig up to seven miles per day, although this was not achieved. Instead in 2024, P3 was able to tunnel 40-46 m/day. In May 2024, Prufrock 4 was nearly complete. In August, it began testing. Prufrock 5 was in

#539460