World Tunnel Congress 2008 - Underground Facilities for Better Environment and Safety - India

Soft ground excavation of the Brezno tunnel

Matous Hilar
D2 Consult Prague s.r.o., Czech Republic
Jaromir Hert
Metrostav a.s., Czech Republic
Roman Smida
Sudop Praha a.s., Czech Republic

SYNOPSIS : A requirement to relocate the railway line section between towns Brezno and Chomutov in
Northern Bohemia was caused by intention to extend the surface lignite mine Libous. 7.1 km long relocated
railway section required a single track tunnel construction. The Brezno tunnel with its length 1758 m is the
longest railway tunnel in the Czech Republic. Construction of the shallow tunnel started using the Pre-
vaulting method in 2000. A tunnel excavation was realised predominantly in plastic clays and claystones
covered by several metres of quaternary deposits. The area was affected by previous undocumented mining
activities. Complicated geological conditions caused many difficulties which resulted in significant collapse
in 2003. The collapse occurred when about 860m of the primary tunnel lining was completed. A decision has
been made to complete remaining (including excavations re-excavation of the collapsed area) using
Sequential Excavation Method (SEM) with sprayed concrete lining. All excavations including a re-
excavation of the collapsed area were completed in 2006. The tunnel was opened for traffic in April 2007.

1. INTRODUCTION claystone with an addition of coal. The Libkovice

The Brezno tunnel construction was funded by the
Severočeské doly, a.s. (the North-Bohemian Mining
Company) together with the SŽDC s.o. (Czech
Railway Authority). The main tunnel contractor was
Metrostav a.s., the tunnel designer was SUDOP
Praha a.s. French company BEC Freres s.a. worked
on project as the Pre-vaulting method (PM)
guarantor. The monitoring and evaluation of
geological conditions was provided by SG
Geotechnika a.s. The company IKP Consulting
Engineers s.r.o. was present on site as the consultant
for the main contractor from 2004, while D2
Consult Prague s.r.o. was engaged on site as a
client’s technical assistance and supervisor from
2005.
2. GEOLOGY
The tunnel was driven through upper parts of the
Holešice and Libkovice Members, which are
covered by quaternary sediments. The upper part of
the Holešice Member is represented by the brown
coal deposit itself. The non-coal intermediate layer
consists of an alternation of silty claystone and
Member, which forms the immediate cover of the
deposit, has the character of monotonous pelitic
sediments. In terms of geology, three layers can be
distinguished within them, i.e. a brown bituminous
claystone layer, grey claystone without a
montmorillonite layer and a grey monotonous
claystone layer. The quaternary cover consists of
fluvial sandy-gravelly sediments, diluviofluvial and
diluvial sandy/clayey-sandy wash loams. The
quaternary sediments form the cover throughout the
tunnel length, with a varying depth up to 6m.
Results of the site investigation indicated that
the tunnel will be constructed in very difficult
geotechnical conditions of the environment
consisting of finely grained, medium to highly
plastic clays with transitions to firm claystone. The
stability of ground in the excavated opening was
anticipated to be significantly affected by the
arrangement of discontinuity surfaces, their
smoothness, density and jointing. The occurrence of
sliding zones, creating difficult to very difficult
construction conditions, was expectable in the
weakened portal areas. No mining activities were
proven along the tunnel route by the survey before
the commencement of the construction works.

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Subsequently, during the construction, the expected into 14m long boreholes were used for the ground
conditions had to be confirmed or disconfirmed by a stabilisation. They were installed into the tunnel
supplementary survey executed directly from the face and around the tunnel. Important part of the
tunnel. ground improvement activities was the grouting of
old mine workings through radial 6m long
3. PRE-VAULTING METHOD OF rockbolts. Despite of maximum efforts to improve
EXCAVATION the condition of old mine workings prior to the
execution of the prevault old mine workings
A decision to use the Pre-vault Method (PM) for the
partially filled with debris or only partially
excavation and primary lining construction of the
consolidated were encountered. Therefore cavities
tunnel was done by the client, the condition to
exceeding the ideal profile of the prevault
utilise this method was part of the contract. The
(extending to the tunnel cross-section or having the
excavation using PM started in March 2002.
form of extensive overbreaks) had to be filled with
Application of sprayed concrete for the PM
sprayed concrete. Once the excavation under the
was a special technical problem. Sprayed concrete
completed prevault had been completed, the
forming the pre-vault represents also the primary
sprayed concrete found inside the tunnel profile had
lining structure supporting the excavation until the
to be removed. In two cases, the tunnel tube even
cast-in-situ final lining is finished. The PM
passed through a vertical mine working. The longest
principle is such that a 20 cm-wide slit (for the
old mining working which was encountered
Brezno tunnel) is cut along the upper and side parts
(including the timbering) at the excavation face was
of a pre-defined tunnel circumference. Step by step,
perpendicular to the tunnel centre line and it ran
simultaneously with cutting of the prescribed
across the whole tunnel profile width. The necessity
number of its segments in prescribed sequence, the
of the tunnel geomonitoring for the safe execution
slit is filled with sprayed concrete. Hardened
of the primary lining was confirmed. In some areas
concrete forms a protective pre-vault reaching
additional measures had to be adopted as
ahead of the rock excavation. The pre-vault has a
improvement grouting in area of the primary lining
shape of a truncated cone, which shape allows
feet, additional installation of 6 – 8m long radial
overlapping of individual pre-vaults. The chain saw
anchors, installation of 60cm thick concrete bracing
length determines the length of the pre-vault which
beams in invert or closure of invert by sprayed
was 5 m in the case of the Brezno tunnel. The pre-
concrete lining.
vault can overlap the preceding prevault from 2.5 to
Due to rapid closing of the ground around pre-
0.5 m (the excavation advance length is selected
cut slits, it was impossible to follow the original
according to geological conditions encountered,
technological procedure and the procedure had to be
from 2.5 to 4.5 m). Full-face excavation takes place
adjusted within accepted specifications. The slot
then under the protection by the pre-prepared
could not be cut in one go, but a system of sticking
primary lining. Unusually long pre-construction
the 85cm wide cutting jib of the pre-vault tunnelling
testing of sprayed concrete for PM has been carried
machine into the excavation face with “intermediate
out prior start of construction.
rock pillars” left between each cut had to be
The first section (km 1.242 to km 1.550) was
adopted. The “pillars” were removed and replaced
intensely undermined by previous coal mining
with sprayed concrete subsequently. This procedure
activities. The excavation performance was quite
was applied to the initial 130m of the tunnel
slow during the learning period, when the
excavation. In those conditions, one pre-vault
contractor’s crews became familiar with a new
consisted of 16 partial segments. With improvement
tunnelling method. Unfortunately originally
of excavation conditions the number of segments
unexpected significant occurrence of unregistered
could be reduced up to five. The original time of 16
mine workings was regularly encountered in the
to 20 hours for the cutting and filling of the slot was
tunnel profile and its vicinity. Old mine workings
reduced up to 7 to 8 hours.
were found mainly within the 2.3m-thick upper coal
In the beginning, there was a significant
seam. The encountered coal seam gradually dipped
problem with the filling of the 5m long and 20cm
under the tunnel bottom. The ground ahead and
wide slot with s sprayed concrete; it was an entirely
under the excavation was improved by high-
new phenomenon in the execution of primary liners
pressure grouting. Also fibreglass dowells inserted
in the Czech Republic. Generally this meant to

1435
 Figure1. Perforex 3713 prevault tunnelling machine
abandon all common experience with sprayed
concrete gained on NATM tunnels and to gradually
gather new know-how for proper filling of the slots.
The machine used for the PM was a Perforex 3713
pre-vault tunnelling machine (Fig.1). The machine
was deployed in the so-called verification operation
mode, which was ordered by the Czech Bureau of
Mines with the aim of verifying its properties in the
Czech Republic. No significant defects of this
equipment causing significant downtimes occurred
during the excavation. Minor defects were removed
during the course of the verification operation.
Another important machine was a PG – 115 drilling
rig, which was used for drilling of 16m-long
boreholes from the tunnel face. Due to geological
conditions the drilling was done by screw drills
without water flush.
The second section (km 1.550 to 1.920) was a
section where the geotechnical conditions complied
with expected behaviour, they were significantly
better in comparison to the first section.
Geotechnical conditions allowed tunnel excavation
with advances 4.5m. The advance rates reached
almost 100m per month. No modifications of the
original design were required. All deformations
stayed within expected limits.
Excavation of the third section (km 1.920 to
km 2.034) started in the beginning without
problems. However at the beginning of March 2003
deformations started to rapidly grow and the
excavation had to be suspended. The primary lining
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invert had to be closed by sprayed concrete lining
with lattice girders. All pre-vaults with accelerated
increase of deformations were closed. Concurrently
with the installation of inverts the feet of the pre-
vaults were stabilised by grouting. Eventually, the
pre-vaults were anchored to the surrounding ground
(8 rockbolts per one pre-vault). A decision was
made to build 80m of the final invert, because all
attempts to keep deformations under prescribed
limits failed. The deformations of the pre-vaults
totally cease after the final invert installation. The
monitoring limits were exceeded; the maximum
transverse and vertical convergences reached 72mm
and 96mm respectively. The probable cause of such
a significant deformational response was a weak
zone found in the ground between km 1.950 and
1.975.
The fourth section (km 2.030 to km 2.106) was
a section with no significant anomaly expected from
the site investigation, stable ground conditions were
expected. The site investigation predicted the
presence of unweathered, firm and only locally
fractured claystone, with the shear strength above
200 kPa. The primary lining consisting of pre-vaults
without the invert was expected to be stable.
However the tunnel excavation encountered
weathered, densely jointed soft claystone with shear
strength below 100 kPa. With the experience
obtained from the previous section, a prevault type
allowing the 4.0m excavation advance was selected,
with ten 6.0m long radial rockbolts on each pre-
vault. Because the moderate increments of
deformations of the pre-vault 178 did not stabilise,
the lengths of the radial anchors were increased to
8m. The deformations did not cease. Thus the
length of the prevaults was reduced to 3.0m and
eight 6m-long radial anchors were added.
During the common site inspection carried out
on 2.5.2003 in the presence of all parties, the
condition of the primary lining in the tunnel and the
results of convergence measurements available
were checked and it was stated that everything was
developing without problems. No obvious signs of
the future development of deformations were found.
Nevertheless, a decision was made that the final
invert has to be installed throughout the length of
the tunnel section between the pre-vaults from km
2.002 to km 2.028.
Monitoring results started to grow, thus closure
of pre-vaults started earlier than expected. The
supporting frames were successfully erected under
two pre-vaults and the erection of the frame under
the third prevault started. Despite the efforts to
support problematic places by steel frames, the
development of deformations was so rapid that
there was no chance to stop it. On the 5 May 2003
at about 5 am, the tunnel lining collapsed at a length
of nearly 85m, burying the Perforex 3713 pre-vault
tunnelling machine. The propagation of the primary
lining collapse stopped at the last closed pre-vault.
Surprisingly the deformations prior collapse stayed
within the limits set by the design, with the
moderate increment of maximum 1.0 to 2.0mm per
day, but without tendency to stabilise. For that
reason, a decision was made, based on the
experience gained at the previous section that the
structure has to be closed by the invert once the
deformation values would reach 27 to 30mm
vertically or 22 to 24mm horizontally.
Important for the collapse was that instead of
the expected firm, unweathered claystone the
excavation encountered layers of heavily weathered
claystone intensely jointed with the consistency
softer than expected. This geology was not
anticipated. As a result of this geological anomaly,
the shear strength of the ground dropped below
expected values used in design. Testimony of
eyewitnesses of the collapse development as well as
the subsequent structural analyses confirmed that
the collapse happened due to the loss of the tunnel
subbase stability. The stability of tunnel subbase
directly and unequivocally depends on the value of
the shear strength. If the claystone layer had been
1437
encountered in the condition which had been
anticipated by the survey, the corresponding shear
strength would be sufficient for the tunnel stability
to be maintained. The investigation, which was
carried out by the Regional Bureau of Mines in
Most concluded that the tunnel collapse was caused
by a loss of the bearing capacity of the foundation
base under the primary liner due to an abrupt
change in geotechnical parameters.
4. SEQUENTIAL EXCAVATION METHOD
Prior to the decision about the completion of
the tunnel, many technical and technological
problems had been solved. A solution had to be
found for legislation and the design associated with
the tunnel construction and, at last but not least,
even for the funding of the works. The tunnel
construction was significantly delayed and there
was a threat that the entire project would not be
finished on time and the progress of the open cast
mine operations would be suspended. After
complicated negotiations among involved parties
and after the execution of a supplementary site
investigation, the client decided to complete tunnel
excavation from the opposite portal. The new
design based on the results of the supplementary
site investigation was carried out. The new design
proposed the use of Sequential Excavation Method
(SEM) for the initial 62m of the drive and a
modified Pre-vaulting Method (PM) for the
remaining 552m. The modification meant
installation of the lattice girders, steel meshes and
sprayed concrete around the whole tunnel profile
immediately after the prevault exposure.
In his effort to guarantee the tunnel
construction by the modified PM, the client
instructed the contractor to order a second pre-vault
tunnelling machine. The order was placed and the
machine was supplied in parts. The assembly of
machine was finished at the end of 2004. The
design of SEM and PM excavations took into
consideration the previous tunnelling experience
and new geotechnical data. All structures of the
primary and secondary linings were significantly
reinforced.
The SEM construction started in September
2004. Again it had to cope with very difficult
geotechnical conditions, which were accompanied
by the instability of the face. The SEM excavation
was adjusted to these conditions. The tunnel was
excavated using the canopy tube umbrellas. The
tunnel face was divided into three parts – the top
heading, bench and invert. The primary lining of the
tunnel consisted of sprayed concrete, steel mesh,
lattice girders, radial steel anchors, the invert was
closed. The tunnel face was supported by sprayed
concrete coat and by fibreglass face dowels (Fig.2).
The face stability was improved in some cases by
further sequencing and by a supporting ground
wedge in centre. A significant element contributing
to the tunnel excavation stability was a rapid closure
Figure 2. Installation of fibreglass face dowels during SEM construction
of the tunnel profile.
In the initial about 290m long section, the
tunnel excavation passed through a quarrying
claystone. The limited stability ground formed
overbreaks at the top headings despite the fact that
the overburden was supported by micropiles and the
top heading was divided into 6 parts. Despite the
significant increase in the number of longitudinal
face dowels, the stability of the face consisting of
slickensided fragments of clayey ground did not
improve. The excavation was suspended by the
client at chainage km 2.659 (62m from the exit
portal). The client required start of the modified PM
method. This method was not recommended by
other involved parties. On the client’s request the
design of improvement measures to allow the
modified PM method application was carried out
1438
and evaluated. Realised study showed that
application of the PM method would mean an
extension of the construction time and increase in
the cost. Therefore client instructed the contractor to
continue with SEM. The contractor had to assess
the geology every 20m of the tunnel length with
respect to the consideration of the possibility to
utilise the modified PM method.
Such the situation came around after the
excavation of about 350m of the tunnel by the SEM.
The contractor agreed that the deployment of the
pre-vault tunnelling machine was viable, but the
Regional Bureau of Mines (RBM) in Most did not
recommend to use the second pre-vault tunnelling
machine. It was therefore subsequently decided that
the tunnel excavation be finished using the SEM. In
three cases a large overbreaks SEM excavation
further developed in minor collapses. The
excavation was completed in October 2006, when
tunnel was holed into a shaft, which had been
constructed in advance.
5. ESCAPE SHAFT CONSTRUCTION
Changes in engineering legislation took place
during the Brezno tunnel construction. The today
commonplace safety equipment of long tunnels was
not required at the time when the individual stages
of the design documents were developed and
submitted for approval. When the tunnel was being
designed after the collapse of the lining consisting
of the pre-vaults, the project owner decided to
respond to the new situation. On his instruction, a
new assessment of the Fire Design of the Březno
tunnel was carried out. The assessment resulted in a
requirement for an escape exit. The circular shaft
lined with piles, which was designed to allow the
recovery of the Perforex machine, was used for the
construction of the escape route. This circular shaft
was built at chainage km 2.095 320 (the shaft centre
chainage), with the centre set 1.5m off the tunnel
centre line. The position of the shaft was selected
with the aim of „encircling“ the buried Perforex
machine. The diameter of the shaft, measured to the
centres of the piles, was 21m and the depth
amounted to 35m. The shaft lining consisted of 70
pieces of secant piles 1180mm in diameter, drilled
at 0.942m spacing. The deflection of the vertical
during the pile drilling was lower than 1%. The
shaft lining was reinforced by four massive
reinforced concrete walers, 8 pieces of 30cm thick
and 1.0m high reinforcing sprayed concrete rings
and two 10.8m high reinforced concrete supporting
walls, which were built in the bottom part of the
shaft. Under the protection of the shaft reinforced in
the above-mentioned way, the buried Perforex pre-
vault tunnelling machine was exposed and lifted up.
The shaft received the tunnel from both sides, i.e.
from the side of the dissipated collapse and,
subsequently, from the exit portal side where the
tunnel was excavated by SEM. The casting of the
final lining, which had been till that time carried out
concurrently with the excavation, was completed
with a delay. A stair shaft, which was built above
the final lining block number 87, was connected
through a safety recess with the entrance to the
escape exit from the tunnel. The entry to the escape
route from the tunnel is from the emergency
walkway level, through a 1800mm wide fire double
door, which opens to the staircase space. From this
point it is possible to ascend on three 2000mm
wide, geometrical, atypical stair flights above the
tunnel tube. From this level, the staircase continues
by straight flights through a rectangular shaft. The
ratio of rise and tread is 34.7°, which means that the
staircase is of a common design. The staircase is
provided with handrails on both sides. The
difference between the emergency walkway level in
the tunnel and the level of the floor of the surface
1439
building is 29.9m. The shaft does not have to be
equipped with an emergency lift. The final lining of
the escape shaft is made of C 25/30 - grade
reinforced concrete. In terms of fire safety, the shaft
structure with the staircase is an independent fire
compartment.
6. RE-EXCAVATION OF THE COLLAPSED
SECTION
The recovery of the 85m long section collapsed in
May 2003 was another complicated task. 22m of the
primary lining were completely filled with soft
ground which flew from the collapsed section, 63m
of the primary lining fell down. Several alternatives
of the collapse recovery procedure were considered.
Finally selected mined variant included an escape
shaft which was also used for the recovery of the
buried Perforex machine (Fig.3). The
commencement of the work was delayed by
negotiations with the insurance company. The
negotiations were concluded in December 2005 and
the works commenced in January 2006. A slushy
ground had been removed form the initial 22m long
section and original primary lining was supported
by additional sprayed concrete lining with closed
invert.
The recovery of the remaining 63m of the
collapse started with the construction of 7 pile walls
drilled from the surface in perpendicular direction
to the tunnel centre line with 9m spacing (Fig.4).
The walls formed independent, 8m long sections
(chambers) of the collapsed tunnel. There were,
naturally, some fears prior the commencement of
the excavation in the collapse area regarding the
deformational behaviour of the rock mass which
had been deformed in the area of the tunnel profile
and above the tunnel by the previous accident. For
that reason it was decided that core probe holes be
drilled ahead of the face before the commencement
of excavation of each particular section and further
decisions made on the extent of the rehabilitation
work necessary. A decision was made before the
commencement of the excavation beyond the first
dividing pile wall that horizontal jet grouted
columns be carried out within the tunnel cross
section to strengthen the rock mass. This measure
was also used beyond the third dividing pile wall.
The excavation in the other compartments did not
require this strengthening.
The crown of the tunnel was regularly
protected by means of canopy tube pre-support. The
 Figure 3. Pile walls and shaft designed for recovery of collapsed tunnel section

Figure 4. Pile wall with installed micropile umbrella

drilling for the pre-support was carried out from the
front side of each pile wall. The tubes were always
tailed into the next pile wall (they bridged the entire
distance between neighbouring dividing walls).
Efforts were made in the beginning to embed the
canopy tubes into jet grouted columns to be carried
out above the excavated cross section. However, the
execution of jet grouting in the tunnel overburden
stopped after the completion of the excavation of
the initial three compartments, similarly to the jet
grouting within the tunnel profile.

1440
 The excavation proceeded in steps of 1m
advance per cycle. The excavation was supported
by steel mesh, lattice girders and sprayed concrete.
In the beginning, efforts were made to immediately
close the temporary invert of the top heading.
Naturally, in terms of structural analysis, it would
have minimised the lining deformations. On the
other hand, this requirement logically meant that
full-face top heading excavation was necessary.
With regard to the stability problems of the face and
the danger to workers at the excavation face, it was
decided that the temporary top heading invert was
to be closed later (i.e. at a distance of 2 - 3m). This
measure made the stabilisation of the face by means
of the rock wedge, which was left in the centre of
the top heading, possible. This measure showed to
be a suitable compromise. In addition to the rock
wedge, the excavation face was regularly stabilised
by a thin layer of sprayed concrete. When more
intense manifestations of instability were
encountered, the top heading excavation and
application of sprayed concrete face was divided
into several steps. The excavation of the bench and
tunnel bottom followed the top heading excavation
at a distance exceeding 9m.
The effect of the jet grouting rather fell short
of expectations. The jet grouted columns which had
been expected to reinforce the ground, were
perceivable only in the non-cohesive Quaternary
material; unfortunately, they were not much visible
Figure 5. Re-excavation of collapsed area using canopy tubes
1441
in the cohesive clay or claystone. The attempt to
drill through the jet grouted columns for installation
of the pre-support tubes was similarly little
successful. We can state that the jet grouting carried
out within the tunnel profile acted rather as pressure
grouting. The cement grout filled various fissures
and empty spaces in the collapse rubbles. The
highest accumulation of the grout was found at the
beginning of the excavation, under the preserved
pre-vault created by the Perforex machine. Because
of the relatively favourable consistency of the
mostly cohesive material – the collapse rubble, and
with respect to the fact that stabilisation of cohesive
soils by jet grouting is a difficult task, it was
decided after the excavation of the third section to
abandon the idea of the stabilisation by jet grouting.
Conversely, the canopy tube pre-support with
the tubes tailed into the pile walls can be evaluated
very positively; the canopy certainly contributed to
the improvement of stability and safety (Fig.5). The
top of the excavation face above the rock wedge
collapsed several times during the excavation.
However, owing to the tubes, the instability had
never extended above the completed canopy. At the
beginning of the excavation, the ends of the pre-
support tubes got overloaded due to the stability
problems of the face. As a result, the first lattice
girder under the canopy was deformed. This
problem was successfully removed by means of
doubling the first lattice girder under the canopy
tube pre-support (inside the compartments) and
welding of the ends of the tubes through the steel
mesh to the last BTX lattice girder before the
dividing wall (i.e. above the tubes).
The original schedule for the collapse recovery
assumed 12 months of works. Despite complicated
ground conditions some supporting measured could
be reduced during excavation and also the
construction period could be shortened to 8 months.
7. CONCLUSION
Construction of the Brezno tunnel was one of the
most complicated excavations of underground
structures in the Czech Republic. During
construction a very significant range of tunnelling
and ground improvement techniques had to be
employed. The construction required the
cooperation with a large number of professionals
including international experts. An experience and a
know-how gained during the construction are
certainly very valuable for all participants. Despite
all problems and time delays during the
implementation of the project, the deadline for the
relocated railway line operation (April 2007) set by
the client was finally met. It is also necessary to
emphasize that no major injury was registered
during the Brezno tunnel construction.
The first author is grateful for the financial
support by the research grant GACR 205/08/0732.
REFERENCES
1. Bartak, J. et al. “Underground construction in the
Czech Republic”. Satra, Prague, 2007.
2. Hert, J. “Brezno tunnel construction”. Tunel 4/2007.
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3. Hilar, M. – John, V. “Recovery of the collapsed
section of the Brezno tunnel”. Tunel 3/2007.
4. Polak, P. “Sprayed concrete in traffic tunnel
construction”. Tunel 3/2004.
5. SUDOP PRAHA a.s. “Tunnel Brezno – detailed
documentation“. 2000 – 2006.
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS OF THE AUTHORS
Dr. Matous Hilar graduated in civil
engineering from the Czech Technical
University in 1997, he completed PhD
in tunnelling at the Czech Technical
University in 2001. Four years he
worked for Mott MacDonald Ltd. in
UK. From 2006 he works as senior
engineer for D2 Consult Prague s.r.o.
He is chartered civil engineer in the CR
and UK. He was involved in tunnels for Terminal 5 at
Heathrow in UK, SMART in Malaysia, CrossRail in UK,
and Czech tunnels Mrazovka, Brezno or Prague - Beroun.
Ing. Jaromir Hert graduated from the
VSB - Technical University of
Ostrava in 1987. from 1987 to 1999
he worked in mining industry in the
Czech Republic. From 1999 is
employed by Metrostav a.s. as a
leader of various projects. He was
involved in tunnel Mrazovka in
Prague, he was a chief site manager
during the Brezno tunnel construction.
Ing. Roman Smida graduated in civil
engineering from the Transport and
Infrastructure University of Zilina in
1973. In 1973 he joined SUDOP
PRAHA a.s. as a consultant. From
1980 to 2003 he was a director of the
tunnelling department. He
participated on many tunnelling
projects in the Czech Republic, he
was a chief consultant of the Brezno tunnel.