Tunnelling contractors were given just three weeks by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) to submit prequalification questionnaires as the first stage of bidding for the HK$8.3bn (US$1.06bn) Kowloon Southern Link. Firms had to request the documents by 6 February. They also had to give details of which contracts they were interested in, coupled with a list of previous tunnelling projects.
Four contracts cover the design and construction of the 4.5km long line, linking the KCRC’s West and East rail networks through the heart of Kowloon’s Tsim Sha Tsui tourist district: KDB100 – East Tsim Sha Tsui station to Canton Road involving 450m of twin-track running tunnels; KDB200 – 740m of tunnel between Canton Road and Jordan Road together with the construction of West Kowloon station; KDB300 – Jordan Road to Yau Ma Tei ventilation building, which involves 850m of twin-track running tunnels; KDB400 – Yau Ma Tei ventilation building to Nam Cheong with 1,050m of twin-track running tunnel and the construction of Yau Ma Tei ventilation building.
Tenders for all four contracts are expected to be invited in May. The contract period for each of the four will be 44 months. KCRC said: “Contractors must have extensive experience in the construction of large diameter tunnels using different tunnelling methods including cut and cover, bored and mined tunnels, in mixed ground conditions.”
Starting from Nam Cheong Street station, cut and cover will be used to the Yau Ma Tei ventilation building. A short section will then be built using drill and blast methods. Cut and cover or TBM could be used to build the tunnels from the ventilation building south to the planned West Kowloon station. The station itself will be built using cut and cover. TBMs will be used from West Kowloon station to Canton Road at Tsim Sha Tsui where there will be a small section of drill and blast. Cut and cover methods will again be used from Salisbury Road, to Tsim Sha Tsui East station.
