IUOE News Spring 2014

Feature Article
Evergreen Line goes full steam ahead for 2014
BC’s largest current public transit project is pulling out all
the stops to meet its summer 2016 target, using machines and
manpower that represent the best of technology and skills.
Story: Marco Procaccini
Photos: Courtesy of Grant Mattice Photography
The massive underground drilling operation taking place
between Port Moody and Coquitlam for the Evergreen Line
has not only created work for many members, but also stirred
industry and media attention for its scale and complexity.
The advances in drilling equipment technology and
processes show how Local 115 members servicing the tunnelling
and related construction trades need to be up to date with
the latest industry developments and equipment operating
skills—some of which are coming at light-speed...
Faster, bigger, more complex machines
For example, researchers at the University of Alberta have
developed a new drilling and tunnelling machine that is
guided by multiple lasers for much more accurate and faster
operation. While the use of lasers to guide deep drilling and
tunnelling equipment has been fairly common for many years,
this is the first effort to use multi-directional lasers to scan
and set the direction for the equipment.
“With the current, single laser beam technology, the tunnelling
operations have to be shut down every 10 metres for one
hour so the operators can check the laser direction,” said Ming
Lu, Civil and Environmental Engineer and Professor at U of A
who is leading the research and development of this new
equipment. He told the university`s Faculty of Engineering
Journal that this new technology will reduce tunnelling downtime
by over ten per cent.
The new machine uses what is called a Virtual Laser Target
Board that includes a computerized mechanical device which
constantly measures and records multiple laser readings
calculating the exact position and overall direction of the
machine in the tunnel while it is in operation. This allows the
operators to run the machine much more accurately and efficiently,
with less down time to check the direction.
“With new technology, the machine operator will no longer
work in darkness, and the quality of the tunnel alignment can
be controlled within a few millimetres” said Professor Lu.
Evergreen Line
This technology is even more advanced than the state of
the art, 10-meter-tall tunnelling machine which recently
started work on the two kilometre Port Moody tunnel project
for the Evergreen Line. This machine is able to drill up to
Concrete sections of the Evergreen Line are lifted into position.
eight meters per day and remove around 150 thousand cubic
metres of dirt over the year it will run for.
Of course, any machine, no matter how advanced or efficient,
is worthless without skilled labour to operate it (some
tunnelling machines take up to twelve people to operate,
depending on size and complexity). Currently, OE members
are working on the assembly of the Evergreen tunnelling
machine.
“We’ve got some guys down there at different times,” says
Local 115 Training Plan Coordinator Randy Grisewood.
“There are two operators working now on the two GWIL
Cranes, and about a half dozen others servicing the site.”
While Operating Engineers rarely get involved in the actual
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