Brussels Metro is a rapid transit system that serves a large portion of the Brussels, Capital Region of Belgium. It consists of 4 conventional metro lines and 3 pre-metro lines.

Line 3 is tram line that runs through the city center from Churchill in the south to Esplanade in the north, using the North-South Axis tunnel. The total route will be 10.3km long.

An 150m long new tunnel is being dug underneath the Brussels North railway station to connect two existing underground tunnels. It will be an important component of the new metro link.

Dextra supplied Sonitec, a tube solution invented to facilitate the integrity testing of foundations using the CSL testing method, to the construction site of Line 3. 13 kilometers of the tubes were installed in the 18m long pile cages.

Sonitec system have been designed for the sole purpose of facilitating the assembly and installation of long tube lengths in reinforcement cages.

The Cairo Metro is the rapid transit system in Greater Cairo, Egypt. It was the first of three full-fledged metro systems built in Africa, as well as the first in the Arab world. It began service in 1987 as Line 1 between Helwan and Ramsis Square, covering a distance of 29 kilometers.

The Cairo Metro currently has 74 stations, 3 of which are transfer stations, with a total length of 89.4 kilometers as of August 2020. There are three operating lines in the system, numbered from 1 to 3.

The new Line 4 will run from Makram Ebeid Station to Police Academy Station near the Ring Road, with bored tunnels following Doctor Hassan El-Sherif Street and Ahmed El-Zomor Street. It will be 24 kilometers long in total. Construction began in Q3 2019 and is expected to be completed in 2024.

Dextra has supplied 450,000 Bartec+ couplers and 42 GFRP soft-eyes for the reinforcement of the diaphragm walls.

Bartec+ is a mechanical splicing system with parallel threads for connecting concrete reinforcement bars with diameters ranging from 12 to 50 mm (ASTM #4 to #18). Its threaded bar end is tensile tested at 90% of the rebar yield strength.

Dextra’s GFRP soft-eye is an integrated turn-key solution that uses cut-able Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) reinforcement as an alternative to traditional steel rebars, allowing the penetration of Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) to pass through diaphragm walls with ease.

The Lucknow Metro project is built to serve growing population of Uttar Pradesh, North India, as well as to serve the areas that are not connected by the existing rail system. The 35-kilometer rail system comprises 22 stations, of which 19 will be elevated.
The first phase of the project consists in construction of 2 rail lines (North- South and East-West corridor), connecting four corners of Lucknow by running through the heart of the city. Being implemented by Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC), the Phase 1 comprises the construction of 22.88-kilometer long North-South corridor. The priority section is 8.5 kilometers, linking Transport Nagar to Charbagh.
Once operational, the Lucknow Metro will help ease the traffic in the city, and will also reduce commuters’ travel time.

Etihad Rail is a 1,200-kilometer railway project that will be the first national freight and passenger railway network in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), connecting the seven emirates and promoting trade and social development in the Emirate and across the GCC countries.

The railway project is expected to be a sustainable alternative for freight and passenger transportation throughout the Emirate’s urban and rural areas. It is expected to carry approximately 16 million passengers and 50 million tons of cargo. It will make a significant contribution to lowering road traffic emissions.

The Etihad Rail network reaches the borders of Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the west. The western section connects to Saudi Arabia via Ghweifat, while the eastern section connects to Oman via Al Ain. The railway line connects Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Dubai and runs across the Emirate. Then it goes on to the northern emirates and Fujairah.

The rail network will be built in 3 stages. The first phase of the railway network, which opened in 2016, is a 266-kilometer-long western stretch between Al Ruwais and Shah. It connects Ruwais and Habshan, and then Habshan and Shah.

The second phase connects Abu Dhabi with Dubai. It is also linked to the ports of Jebel Ali, Musaffah, and Khalifa. The third phase entails connecting the northern Emirates. The second and third phases are scheduled for completion in 2024.

Dextra is currently supplying various engineered solutions for the second phase of rail network construction, which includes the construction of a 200km main line in Abu Dhabi and a 40km branch line to Khalifa port, a 78km main line in Dubai and a 20km branch line to Jebel Ali port, a 98km main line from Sharjah to Fujairah and a 29km branch line to Tawyeen, as well as associated facilities.

These solutions were delivered to the railway tunnel construction site.

Source of top image: https://filipinotimes.net/news/2019/12/19/coming-soon-rail-network-linking-dubai-fujairah-khorffakan-ports/

The 37km-long Light Rail Transit Line 3 (LRT3) is a light rail line under development in Malaysia. It includes a 35km viaduct and a 2km underground tunnel and it will link Bandar Utama with Johan Setia in Klang.

Developed in line with the Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley (GKL/KV) Land Public Transport Masterplan, LRT3 will play a strategic part in extending rail connectivity to the Western Corridor of GKL/KV.

Dextra provided cuttable Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) soft-eye solutions installed in diaphragm walls of escape shafts, in order to facilitate the underground tunnel breakthrough by Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM).

The LRT3 project is expected to serve 2-million people across the alignment by improving connectivity, alleviating traffic congestion and stimulating economic growth along the Western Corridor of Klang Valley, from Klang to Petaling Jaya.

The construction is scheduled for completion by February 2024.

Panama Metro Line 3 is a 34km-long monorail line being developed as part of the Panama metro project. It will be the largest project in the country since the expansion of the Panama Canal.

The line will establish a connection between the province of Panama Oeste and the province of Panama, reducing the average travel time by half, from 90 minutes to 45 minutes. The monorail system will be the first to use Japanese technology in the Americas.

Dextra supplied 260,000 Bartec couplers for the elevated monorail structure’s piling column and precast beam connection.

Sonitec tubes were also used to examine the structural integrity of concrete using the crosshole sonic logging testing method.

Expected to begin operations in mid-2025, the line will benefit more than 500,000 residents of the Panama Oeste province.

Image credit: Línea 3 del Metro de Panamá YouTube Channel, www.elmetrodepanama.com

The Lima Metro is a rapid transit system in Peru, currently linking Villa El Salvador district in the south of Lima with San Juan de Lurigancho, in the northeast area of the city. The Metro Line 1 started its operation in 2011 with 26 stations, making a total of 34.6 kilometers, the longest metro line in the Americas.

Dextra participates in the construction of Metro Line 2 and the first stage of Line 4 that began simultaneously in 2016. Line 2 is a 27-km underground line, linking Ate district (Lima) and the Callao region adjoining the capital. Line 4 is an 8-km section that will link Line 2 with Jorge Chavez International Airport station.

More than 160,000 Rolltec rebar couplers have been provided to the Metro construction site to avoid rebar congestion of the traditional overlapping method.

Several types of Rolltec couplers were installed in various parts of the stations’ structures, including standard couplers size #8, #11 and #14, and transition couplers size #8 and #11.

The full line will be operational in 2024.

The Sha Tin Sewage Treatment Works Relocation project is a project to relocate the Sha Tin Sewage Treatment Works (STW) in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, which is currently located at the mouth of the Shing Mun River, to the cavern site at Nui Po Shan of A Kung Kok on the opposite bank, freeing up the existing site for uses beneficial to people’s livelihood and improving the local living environment.

The future Sha Tin Cavern STW will be the largest of its kind in Hong Kong, occupying 14 hectares of land. It will have the same treatment capacity as the current one, but will use advanced sewage treatment technology to meet local population demands and improve services for residents.

For the tunneling works, Dextra has supplied around 800 pieces of GEOTEC™ GFRP rock-bolts for the tunnel’s temporary supporting.

GEOTEC™ GFRP rock-bolts are made of cut-able glass fiber reinforced polymers, making them perfect for face bolting or any other tunneling and mining application where further excavation is required.

Source of images: https://ststwincaverns.hk/

The Circle Line (CCL) is an underground Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. The 35-km, 30-station line runs from Dhoby Ghaut and Marina Bay in the Central Area to HarbourFront in the south.

It is one of the world’s longest driverless rapid transit lines.

In 2013 the Circle Line stage 6 was announced, a 4-km extension to finally close the circle of the CCL by connecting HarbourFront station to Marina Bay station.

Three additional stations are under construction and expected to be operational in 2025.

Well-known expertise and quality in concrete reinforcement solutions were necessary to tackle this project, and Dextra’s Bartec couplers were chosen for several parts of the Circle Line structure, including starter bars, slabs, and column joints.

By the end of the project, approximately 200,000 couplers will be delivered on site.

Moreover, Dextra provided 3,000m of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) rebars, that can boast some key benefits with respect to metal rebars: a lighter weight, no risk of corrosion, and a lower susceptibility to attract lightning strikes.

On top of that, Dextra was entrusted with the reinforcement of the concrete structure of the tunnels: 8 Astec Soft-Eyes were used to facilitate the penetration of the Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) through diaphragm walls, thanks to their innovative cuttable GFRP structure.