The opening of the fast railway line between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem may be delayed for an entire year for repair of defects detected in the service tunnels, says Avi Pantorin, chief engineer in Shapir Engineering and Industry Ltd., the company responsible for tunneling works in this line. Repair of defects will cost NIS 50 million, he says.
Pantorin told "Globes" that Israel Railways had refused Shapir's request to receive an expert's opinion regarding design flaws at the initial stage of the works, which have led to the cracks and defects in the connecting tunnels.
The fast railway line to Jerusalem is considered the Israel Railways and Ministry of Transport's flagship project, with costs estimated at over NIS 6 billion. After repeated delays in the past few years, the launch date of this project is currently 2018.
Yesterday, the Knesset Finance Committee carried out a monitoring meeting and discussed the results of the examination carried out by the Ministry of Transport following the cracks detected in railway line service tunnels in October 2016 and the collapse of one of them. A team of Dutch experts, hired by the Ministry of Transport, has found deficiencies in project planning and implementation. These deficiencies, which involved a too thin layer of concrete, have caused 33 out of 46 service tunnels excavated along the tunnel from Sha'ar HaGai to Mevasseret Zion to remain vulnerable to cracks, breaking floors and even collapse.
During the meeting, Israel Railways claimed that the company has been carrying out the repairs required by the external expert team, but Shapir warned that the repairs do not match the recommendation of the Dutch experts and compromise the main tunnel. During the discussion, Pantorin slammed Israel Railways' conduct, "The report of the Dutch company provided recommendations, not a management process. Who is supervising Israel Railways? Who has planned the tackling of defects? There are dramatic delays in the project that will require at least one year of repairs and cost hundreds of millions of shekels, even before talking about long-term maintenance and upkeep costs." He said, "Israel Railways claims to have been fixing only 25 segments out of 33, but even this partial repair will not withstand rock and water pressures."
Ministry of Transport is optimistic
Shapir has been responsible for the planning and excavation of the railway line's main tunnels. However, responsibility for the design and implementation of service tunnel excavation had been divided differently: Israel Railways had provided the design and Shapir had been chosen as the implementing company. The connecting tunnels are intended for emergencies and for electromechanical system support. There are 46 tunnels connecting the two main tunnels.
Pantorin says that Israel Railways' conduct regarding this issue is outrageous. He claims that as early as 2011, following an examination of the main tunnels' designer, Shapir warned Israel Railways regarding a flawed connecting tunnel design. Shapir requested that the planning should be revised, but Israel Railways had chosen to ignore all Shapir's effort to change the design and ordered it to continue with the works. Shapir claims that Israel Railways had rejected the opinion of an independent expert and that the company had been required to continue with construction works in order to prevent violating its terms. The company claims it had possessed a hydrological report indicative of water, not taken into account by Israel Railways design. Pantorin says that even if repair works are handled properly, the opening of the railway line will be delayed by one year.
Director of the Ministry of Transport Railway Department, Moshe Amsalem, estimated that the cost of repairs will be "only" NIS 14 million and added that no delay in timetables is expected. He says that one of the reasons for these shortcomings is that design had been provided by an entity which is in not the implementing company Shapir, with no coordinating entity that had seen the overall picture.
Finance Committee Chairman, MK Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union) said that he will request a State Comptroller examination of decision-making processes.
Israel Railways responded, "Shapir continues trying to damage a national flagship project, after delaying the implementation of its part of the project for one year, only because Israel Railways has refused to pay taxpayer's money to answer its empty and unfounded demands. The issue is in legal proceedings and will be clarified there. Israel Railways is in a highly advanced stage of repairing some of the connecting tunnels and implementing the recommendations made by the Ministry of Transport and the Dutch examination team. The repair method chosen by Israel Railways has also gained the engineering and professional support of the external team, which has commended the chosen handling methods."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 10, 2016
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016