The Homole tunnel is one of the technologically demanding structures. The design of the formwork equipment was therefore prepared also using experience from similar projects, for example from a road tunnel near Oslo, where OSTROJ previously supplied unique mobile formwork. “From the Norwegian project we brought back specific improvements that speed up both assembly and disassembly of the equipment and shorten downtimes during concreting. For the Czech tunnel, we have equipped the system above standard with remote control, which operates not only the formwork traveller itself but also the concreting trolley that is part of it,” says Petr Bortlík, head of design engineering at OSTROJ.

For the concreting of the motorway tunnel, OSTROJ will deliver three key units. The reinforcement traveller, which is 13 metres long and 7 metres high, will serve for tying the reinforcement of the tunnel vault and, if necessary, also for installing insulation. It will be followed by a 120-ton formwork traveller designed for concreting the secondary lining. The system is conceived as a technological unit, in which the reinforcement traveller is directly followed by the concreting trolley and the actual concreting of the secondary lining. The last part of the delivery consists of formwork for concreting niches and the tunnel headwall, which are carried out together with the secondary lining.

The formwork traveller will be rented to the customer for the entire concreting period. Thirteen trucks will transport it to the construction site. It will then be assembled and prepared within ten days by OSTROJ technicians from Opava. After completion of the tunnel concreting, the mobile formwork will return to Opava, where it will be prepared for use in new projects. “Thanks to a service life covering several kilometres of tunnel structures, our formwork equipment can be repeatedly used on other projects in the Czech Republic and abroad,” explains Zdeněk Slavík, OSTROJ sales manager.

The Opava-based company also draws on its long-standing experience in the development of mining machinery when designing formwork systems. This knowledge is reflected in the construction, material selection, and logistics solutions. The equipment is fully assembled and tested in production, then dismantled into transportable units and reassembled directly on site.