Tunnelling - the need for technological development and innovation

Tunnelling at a larger scale started in the 19th century with the development of the railway systems. In the beginning the practices used in mining for excavation and support were adopted also for the traffic tunnels. In contrast to tunnelling, in mining only a rather small portion of the underground structures is designed for permanent use. The rock mass conditions in mines are usually well known due to the long experience gained during the lifetime of a mine. This experience of excavation under the same or similar conditions explains also why in mining the layout of the excavations and the required support is mainly determined in an empirical way.