Dear Readers,
We come across jobsites every day, whether it is in inner-city areas, on main roads or on motorways. We all know that construction projects are necessary when, for example, a gas pipeline gets damaged, a sewer needs to be sanitated or new fibre-optic cables have to be installed. When traffic gets congested, or even comes to a complete standstill, it can be very annoying.For most people, having to wait at traffic lights, or for the residents of the street, those jobsites can be quite exhausting. The noise of the cars waiting to drive on, the smell of exhaust fumes, the dirt and the churned-up surface can often be a pain in the neck.
When friends tell me about long, never-ending construction projects, it always makes me realise that trenchless contruction methods needs to become better known. Nicely landscaped front gardens are still being torn up, just to install one single house connection. An inner-city pipeline construction often means that entire city distrits can only be reached via long, unnecessary detours.
I would like to see trenchless technology becoming a “people's choice” with more and more construction projects being put out to tender using trenchless methods. That way, the burden on residents is reduced, but nature also remains intact and traffic can continue to flow almost undisturbed as the example of fibre optic expansion demonstrates.
Digitalisation continues to progress and many cities and villages are being equipped with fast fibre-optic lines. To install the main line (Backbone), trenchless technology often only requires a starting and target pit, e. g. for a HDD drilling rig. In contrast, with the open trench method, the roads of entire residential areas have to be torn up. To install the speed pipes into the buildings, the streets of entire residential areas are dug up when applying the open trench method. However, with trenchless technology, only a few small work pits are necessary and construction projects can be completed in a much shorter time. This is what the trenchless construction stands for: conservation of resources – short construction times – low space requirements – cost-effective installations or rehabilitation of pipelines.
We at TRACTO would like to make the advantages of this construction method popular worldwide. “Nowadays there is not one single pipeline construction task for which there is no trenchless solution”, according to my fellow managing director Meinolf Rameil in a recent interview. And I totally agree with him: the current sprectrum of trenchless solutions is wide, providing a broad range of applications for our machines. In rock drilling technology alone, there are many things possible today, which were unthinkable a few years ago. This means, there are hardly any reasons left for municipalities and communities to continue tendering construction projects for the open-trench method.
Our TRACTO INSIDER, which you are holding in your hands right now, helps to spread the word about the benefits of trenchless technology. Reports about successful construction projects or new potential for civil engineering companies are just as important to us as are the expert tips for users and planners. In this issue, for example, we show you how to easily determine the soil type at the jobsite with a few simple steps in our new supplement. Users can learn how to do this fast and easy, which is crucial for the selection of tools and the success of the jobsite. Find out more about the advantages of TRACTO machines first-hand and learn how our customers successfully complete construction projects using trenchless technology. Pick up some new tricks and tips for your own jobsites. Or use them to convince the people in charge at your local authority of the trenchless technology advantages. In doing so, we can all make sure that even more NODIG construction projects are put out to tender in future.
And if you have any questions on trenchless construction, please feel free to contact us. Our team of experts will be very happy to help you.
And now I hope you can sit back and enjoy reading our latest INSIDER.
Sincerely yours Tim Hofmeister
