• Animateur: H. Ehrbar (Switzerland)
  • Vice Animateur: R. Galler (Austria)
  • Tutor: F. Vuilleumier (Switzerland)

During the ITA World Tunnel Congress 2010 at Vancouver, Canada, the WG 19 had two meetings.

In the first meeting 14 delegates represented 12 nations, whereas the second meeting could be attended by 11 delegates representing 8 nations.

At the beginning the delegates discussed the Executive Council’s view on its work. Future additional activities will be planned for the next years as e.g. technical papers on the special design aspects.

The main project of Working Group 19 is the guideline on special contractual aspects of conventional tunnelling. Based on a first draft an intense discussion was held. As a result the next draft will not only focus on unit price contracts, but also on other contract models such as design-build and design-bid-build contracts.

In the second meeting a vivid discussion was held on the paper on the Application of Tunnel Boring Machines versus Drill & Blast, Conventional Tunnelling and Submerged Tunnels, prepared by the Working Group 14. The Working Group 19 suggests a joint paper on excavation methods based on facts instead of a very general paper, mainly based on opinions.