ABOUT
GEG performed, for the construction company Andrade Gutierrez, a cost assessment for 1.800 km of the Iraqi National Line (Faw–Zakho) High-Speed Railway project. GEG was responsible for all the bridges and tunnels with a total of 90 km of viaducts and bridges and 15 km of tunnels.
In addition to this global analysis, GEG developed a preliminary study for a tunnel with nearly 6 km, which passes under the Shatt Al Basra channel in Basra, the industrial and cultural centre of South Iraq.
The waterway crossing is included in the Basra–Faw railway link as part of the planned infrastructure network that will connect Basra with the planned deepwater port on Faw peninsula to facilitate international trade. This railway link was expected to improve commodities and passenger flows to a faster, more competitive and more secure access to the national and international markets.
The study included the definition of solutions for stabilisation of the excavations, with low resistance materials, including typical sludge of the Tigris and Euphrates Delta region, with particular emphasis for the stabilisation of the bottom excavation, using mixed solutions of jet grout and piles, and the water level lowering to allow a partial excavation using slopes.