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.

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 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.