Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies requirements for the operation and maintenance of utility tunnel main bodies, their ancillary facilities and pipelines in different countries and regions. Its content covers the basic operation, daily management, emergency management, evaluation and continuous improvement of utility tunnels.

This document provides guidelines for the smart operation and maintenance of utility tunnels. It is aimed to achieve safe, stable, applicable, technologically-advanced, and economical operation and maintenance of utility tunnels, to ensure the good condition of relevant facilities, and to promote sustainable development.

Purpose

The utility tunnel, a kind of construction and ancillary facilities built underground in urban areas which used to accommodate two or more kinds of municipal pipelines, is an important part of community infrastructure. By means of IoT, big data and other advanced information and communication technologies, the utility tunnel has intelligent functions such as operating state monitoring, error alarm, data analysis, early warning and decision-making. These advanced technologies bring innovations and improvements to the operation and maintenance methods, modes and standards of the utility tunnel, so as to improve the safety of the utility tunnel and improve city anti-disaster capacity, in addition it can support the planning, construction and operation management of smart community from data perspective.

The utility tunnel has a history of nearly 200 years. Massive construction of utility tunnels occurred in large and medium-sized cities in China, France, Britain, Germany, Sweden, the United States, Spain, Russia, Japan, Hungary, Canada, Czechia and India. Over 5,000 kilometers of utility tunnels have been built worldwide up to now. After years of exploration, research, improvement and practice, the utility tunnel’s construction techniques have become increasingly mature. The utility tunnel has grown into a modern symbol of internationally-developed cities in terms of municipal construction management and public management.

In view of the general problems existing in the operation and maintenance of the utility tunnel, this proposal aims to improve the safety, stability and sustainable development of the operation and maintenance of the utility tunnel by providing complete and systematic guidance:

1. The utility tunnel system is influenced by multiple factors, including geological condition, construction material and structural methods, pipelines and ancillary facilities configuration and division arrangement, as well as equipment quality and performance. Therefore, it is prone to safety accidents during operation or maintenance, especially the secondary accidents caused by the concentration of various pipes in the same confined space. This proposal provides scientific and effective guidance on the daily operation and maintenance of utility tunnel to ensure the stability and safety of the operation and maintenance.

2. Throughout the world, the operation and maintenance of the utility tunnel is mainly dependent on manual labour with relatively low efficiency. Research on the realization of information-led smart operation and maintenance has just started, and no complete and systematic guidance has been formed yet. In most countries, the operation and maintenance of the utility tunnel is not efficient enough. Thus, the benefits cannot be guaranteed and government subsidies are continuously needed to maintain actual operation. This proposal integrates the intelligent operation and maintenance requirements of utility tunnels around the world, proposes guidance for continuous technical and management improvement at different levels, in order to improve the efficiency of the operation and maintenance of utility tunnels , to reduce costs and to free manpower.

3. With the rapid development of science and technology, the operation of urban utility tunnels is supposed to be safer, smarter, and more efficient. In other words, the safe, efficient, and smart operation of utility tunnels, the lifeline of cities, is needed for global city development. Although many countries have already established regulations and standards for utility tunnel management that are suitable for their own country, there have been no international standards so far. In order to catch up with the global urban development, it is urgent to have an international standard for utility tunnel management based on the world's excellent experience and advanced information technology. With such a standard, guidance can be provided for the update and improvement of existing standards in various countries.

This draft document provides guidance on the operation and maintenance of the utility tunnel in the following aspects. It is aimed at ensuring the safety and stability of the utility tunnel operation and maintenance, and promoting sustainable development:

1) to provide scientific and effective operation and maintenance guidance to reduce safety accidents and ensure the stability and safety of the operation of the utility tunnel;

2) to recommend operation and maintenance methods in terms of technology and management, improve the service quality of operation and maintenance, and meet the needs of the city’s development;

3) to promote the sustainable development of cities by taking into consideration the sustainable development of the utility tunnel as an investment in urban infrastructure;

4) to formulate an international standard for the first time, providing guidance for the update and perfection of different national standards.

In China, more than 2,000 km of utility tunnels have been built so far. With rich experience in the development of technical standards and regulations on the planning, construction, operation and maintenance of utility tunnels, China hopes to work with other countries to develop an international standard for the comprehensive operation and maintenance of utility tunnels. We would like to learn from the successful experience globally and contribute our latest achievements in the innovative development in China to this international standard, so as to improve the overall stability and safety in the operation and maintenance of urban utility tunnels.