This book studies the historical development of the tunnelling industry, detailing it's technical innovations.

Commissioned by the Cabinet Office and using hitherto untapped British Government records, this book presents an in-depth analysis of the successful project of 1986-94. This is a vivid portrayal of the complexities of quadripartite decision-making (two countries, plus the public and private sectors), revealing new insights into the role of the British and French Governments in the process. This important book, written by Britain’s leading transport historian, will be essential reading for all those interested in PPPs, British and European economic history and international relations. The building of the Channel Tunnel has been one of Europe’s major projects and a testimony to British-French and public-private sector collaboration. However, Eurotunnel’s current financial crisis provides a sobering backcloth for an examination of the British Government’s long-term flirtation with the project, and, in particular, the earlier Tunnel project in the 1960s and early 1970s, which was abandoned by the British Government in 1975.

Real and imagined undergrounds in the late nineteenth century viewed as offering a prophetic look at life in today's technology-dominated world. The underground has always played a prominent role in human imaginings, both as a place of refuge and as a source of fear. The late nineteenth century saw a new fascination with the underground as Western societies tried to cope with the pervasive changes of a new social and technological order. In Notes on the Underground, Rosalind Williams takes us inside that critical historical moment, giving equal coverage to actual and imaginary undergrounds. She looks at the real-life invasions of the underground that occurred as modern urban infrastructures of sewers and subways were laid, and at the simultaneous archaeological excavations that were unearthing both human history and the planet's deep past. She also examines the subterranean stories of Verne, Wells, Forster, Hugo, Bulwer-Lytton, and other writers who proposed alternative visions of the coming technological civilization. Williams argues that these imagined and real underground environments provide models of human life in a world dominated by human presence and offer a prophetic look at today's technology-dominated society. In a new essay written for this edition, Williams points out that her book traces the emergence in the nineteenth century of what we would now call an environmental consciousness—an awareness that there will be consequences when humans live in a sealed, finite environment. Today we are more aware than ever of our limited biosphere and how vulnerable it is. Notes on the Underground, now even more than when it first appeared, offers a guide to the human, cultural, and technical consequences of what Williams calls “the human empire on earth.”

Tunnelling provides a robust solution to a variety of engineering challenges. It is a complex process, which requires a firm understanding of the ground conditions as well as the importance of ground-structure interaction. This book covers the full range of areas related to tunnel construction required to embark upon a career in tunnelling. It also includes a number of case studies related to real tunnel projects, to demonstrate how the theory applies in practice. New features of this second edition include: the introduction of a case study related to Crossrail’s project in London, focussing on the Whitechapel and Liverpool Street station tunnels and including considerations of building tunnels in a congested urban area; and further information on recent developments in tunnel boring machines, including further examples of all the different types of machine as well as multi-mode machines. The coverage includes: Both hard-rock and soft-ground conditions Site investigation, parameter selection, and design considerations Methods of improving the stability of the ground and lining techniques Descriptions of the various main tunnelling techniques Health and safety considerations Monitoring of tunnels during construction Description of the latest tunnel boring machines Case studies with real examples, including Crossrail’s project in London Clear, concise, and heavily illustrated, this is a vital text for final-year undergraduate and MSc students and an invaluable starting point for young professionals and novices in tunnelling.

Tunnelling provides a robust solution to a variety of engineering challenges. It is a complex process, which requires a firm understanding of the ground conditions as well as structural issues. This book covers the whole range of areas that you need to know in order to embark upon a career in tunnelling. It also includes a number of case studies of real tunnel projects, to demonstrate how the theory applies in practice. The coverage includes: Both hard-rock and soft-ground conditions Site investigation, parameter selection, and design considerations Methods of improving the stability of the ground and lining techniques Descriptions of the various tunnelling techniques Health and safety considerations Monitoring of tunnels during construction Clear, concise, and heavily illustrated, this is a vital text for final-year undergraduate and MSc students and an invaluable starting point for young professionals.

This book provides a unique and comprehensive survey of changes and trends in the construction industry focusing on the post-war years and emphasizing their contemporary and future relevance.

Between 1750 and 1850 the British landscape was transformed by a transport revolution which involved engineering works on a scale not seen in Europe since Roman times. While the economic background of the canal and railway ages are relatively well known and many histories have been written about the locomotives which ran on the railways, relatively little has been published on how the engineering works themselves were made possible. This book brings together a series of papers which seek to answer the questions of how canals and railways were built, how the engineers responsible organised the works, how they were designed and what the role of the contractors was in the process.

After several decades of the promotion of road transport, we have realised that the provision of more roads will not on its own solve our traffic problems. More emphasis is being placed on rail transport. This book reviews the international and national scene in all sectors of the industry, and takes a look at the development in the 21st century.

* 22 sections cover the entire field of the history of technology and each section summarises the development of its subject from the earliest times to the present day * Written without unnecessary jargon * 2 extensive indexes of Names and Topics * Usefully illustrated with 150 black & white photographs and line drawings to explain key advances `Contain[s] a vast amount of reliable information over a very wide field. It is certainly a work of which I shall myself make frequent use ... it deserves to find a place ... in every reference library.' - Times Higher Education Supplement `The coverage is excellent ... a most valuable single-volume source which for its comprehensiveness and ease of reference will earn its place in both specialist and general reference collections.' - Reference Reviews `Informative and comprehensive, remarkable in its coverage ... covers every aspect of technology from the Stone Age to the Space Age ... will undoubtedly help readers to get a grip on and feel of an enormous range of subjects ... An invaluable and practical addition to most office bookshelves or libraries.' - New Civil Engineer `The authors represented in this book are to be congratulated for their readable and reliable surveys of the past and present status of the major areas where mankind has harnessed science for the production of useful products and processes.' - Choice