/ The firm HBT AIM Inc. was expected to bring the Demag onto the project in late February or early March to assist in dismantling a railway tunnel.

/ Transport Quebec began work on the Turcot project, the largest roadwork project in the province’s history, in 2015. It involves the rebuilding of the highway network and four major interchanges – the Turcot interchange, the Montreal-West interchange, the Angringon Blvd. interchange, and the De La Vérendrye interchange. In 2020 the project will yield a new street — Pullman Blvd.

/ Among the interesting and challenging tasks is the dismantling of the railway tunnel in the Montreal-West interchange sector.

/ “It’s a tunnel over the CN Railway,” said Simon Hébert, project director for HBT AIM. “As part of the Trucot project, they have to remove the tunnel to realign the track. Our scope is to remove the entire tunnel without interfering with train service.”

13 lifts planned over four days

/ Hébert said HBT AIM’s work on the project consists of two sections. The first section is three precast concrete girders, which are an extension of the existing tunnel. The plan was for the Demag to perform 13 lifts over four days.

/ The second section consists of nine portal sections. They require the use of self-propelled modular transporters and a gantry crane. The gantry crane would lift sections of tunnel weighing 10,500 kilonewtons, roughly 1,100 tons.

/ “The obvious challenge is to work within the railway,” Hébert said. “It’s a closed in area. And we can’t stop any trains at all. There’s basically a train every 10 to 15 minutes. Via Rail is using this line, there’s a train every 30 minutes from Toronto to Montreal. There’s freight trains. The window to work is very short. And CN is, obviously, very picky about what we can do inside the tunnel because we’re inside the railway.”