Jacking under railway track with Amiblu GRP pipes

In the German town of Helmstedt, Flowtite pipes DN 1280 were installed via microtunneling as part of a sewer system extension.

To prevent overloads of the local combined sewer system and wastewater treatment plant, it was decided to extend the existing system by a 1.7 km long drainage line for surface water. The pipeline route crossed the Elm-Lappland railway track, which was not to be affected by the construction works – a clear case for microtunneling, which the client chose to realize with Flowtite GRP pipes DN 1280 for a number of reasons: “Due to the limited soil cover, we needed pipes with a relatively low wall thickness but still sufficiently high stiffness. Concrete was no option in this case”, says Bernd Geisler of Abwasserentsorgung Helmstedt.

Flowtite GRP pipes comply to the high structural requirements on site thanks to their excellent stiffness and stability and are approved by Germany’s Federal Railway Authority. It took the construction company four days to complete the microtunneling installation.