Eurasia Tunnel Project chose Grindex Pumps

Another major tunnel Project once again chose Grindex pumps to keep one of the world’s most advanced tunnelling projects dry. The Eurasia Tunnel, which strechs 5.4 km and connects Europe and Asia in Istanbul, took 55 months to complete.

The Euroasia Tunnel Project is a 14.6 km route between Kazlicesme on the European side and Goztepe on the Asian side of Istanbul. It consists of three sections, widening and improvement of existing roads (including an extra lane) in Asia; construction of a two-deck road tunnel under the Bosphorus Staright; and widening and improvement of existing roads (including extra lanes) in Europe. When completed, the project will reduce the average travelling time between the two points from 100 minutes to 15 minutes.





The tunnel section will be 5.4 km long. The tunnel will have a diameter of 13.7 meters to cater for two levels of traffic, plus a service tunnel. However, it will only be open to light vehicles, i.e., automobiles, minivans, and vans up to a certain size. Heavy goods vehicles, buses, motorbikes, and passengers will all have to use the existing bridges to cross the Straight.
The tunnel will, at the deepest point, be 106 meters below sea level. The shortest distance between the tunnel and the seabed will be 26 metres.

Tunnelling will moved at a pace of eight to ten metres a day and it was completed in 55 months. Throughout the project there was a intensive drainage requirements of abrasive media including salt water, clay, silt, sand and gravel.

In order to pump such abrasive media, efficiently and effectively Grindex pumps were used throughout the length of the tunnel. They strategically placed in boreholes where they operation around the clock, keeping the tunnel dry. As the tunnel increased in length more Grindex pumps were put to work to keep the tunnel dry and ensure there are no hold-ups due to flooding or excess water.

Grindex Sales Manager at Erke, Osman Çınar stated that; Grindex was chosen for this work due to their long history of providing pumps to major tunnelling projects and the reliability to pump the toughest media.