[08/31/15]

If you live in Sweden and never heard of the Hallandsås Tunnel you have missed 23 years of drama. We could give you a lot of specifics, but will just mentioned that finally LKO could survey both tracks and tunnel tubes (8.7 kilometer times 2) on August 19th. It took 23 years to build the tunnel but it took only three (3) hours for LKO Teknik AB to survey the famous tunnel.

First time LKO entered the Hallandsås Tunnel was in 1996 with our newly developed LKO/L-KOPIA Surveying Laser System, a system based on our B1 laser positioned by a Total Station (of course no tracks in the short tunnel in 1996). The B1 laser was the state-of-the-art at the time, and with 8 Hz scanning rate we amazed the clearance world. To compare, 19 years later we used our LKO/L-KOPIA Z+F Clearance Laser System with 200 Hz scanning rate, both in the tunnel and for two new station tracks outside the tunnel.

The August 19th survey was requested by the contractor before they start testing all systems in and outside the tunnel. Before the tunnel is given to the final owner, Swedish Rail Administration (TRV) on December 13th, 2015 test trains will travel in both tubes in speeds over 200 Km/Hour.

LKO will be back for a final clearance survey for TRV the week before regular traffic is allowed in Hallandsås Tunnel.

For more information about this very special tunnel, please click on:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallands%C3%A5s_Tunnel

This picture from Hallandsås Tunnel in 1996 shows Surveyor Kurt Sundin adjusting the B1 laser and aiming the prism towards the Total Station. Jonas Linqvist of LKO is behind the wheel. We took cross sections every second meter and production speed was about 50 meter per hour.

L-KOPIA is still very busy with two laser trucks working for our major customer (one in North Dakota and one in Washington State). Interesting note is that Supervisor Gary Mitchell just surveyed the Cascade Tunnel, approximately 65 miles (105 km) to the east of Everett, Washington. The 7.79-mile (12.54 km) long single-track tunnel was a replacement of the earlier Cascade Tunnel (opened in 1900). The “new” tunnel was put in service on January 12, 1929.

The Cascade Railroad Tunnel was modified for double-stack traffic in 1988. L-KOPIA did survey the tunnel with our Photogrammetric Clearance System (STEFO) in 1987. This was done in preparation of “notching” the concrete lined tunnel.

Please contact us for any questions on this month’s newsletter.