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Gerrards Cross Tunnel is a railway tunnel in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, on the Chiltern Main Line. The purpose of the tunnel was to enable a new Tesco supermarket to be built over the railway line. Plans were initially met with anger by local residents, and the council refused planning permission but this decision was overturned by John Prescott. During construction of the tunnel, it partially collapsed on 30 June 2005. No-one was injured in the accident, although a train heading towards the tunnel when it collapsed had to perform an emergency stop. Early reports suspected the cause was the backfilling operation but the Health and Safety Executive are yet to release their findings. Despite the incident, the construction continued in 2007 with different contractors building the tunnel. The store opened in November 2010, fourteen years after the project was commissioned. ==Background== Tesco, the third largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second largest measured by profits first proposed a store on the site in 1996. The local council also objected to the development and a public inquiry endorsed this decision. In July 1998, however, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott overturned the council's ruling on the basis of the recommendations of an independent planning inspector. Due to a lack of space in the area, Tesco had proposed building over the railway line, which would free up a large area of land suitable for the development.〔 The work was let under a design and build contract to Jackson Civil Engineering, who announced the store would be designed by White Young Green, and specialist supplier Reinforced Earth Company.〔 〕 Work started on site in early 2003. At the time Jackson Civil Engineering were part of the Peterhouse Group, which was subsequently bought by Babcock International Group in 2004, after the Jackson Civil Engineering division had been sold in a management buyout. Babcock were still subject to the parent company guarantee that Peterhouse Group had entered into when the contract to build the tunnel was let. The design used precast concrete sections, each of which made up half of a three-pinned arch. These segments were connected to each other at the middle of the arch, and material then built back up over the arch, known as backfilling. The method of construction was not unique. "There are eight tunnels like this in Britain," said James Ford of Chiltern Railways, "and something like a thousand worldwide."〔 At the time of collapse, construction work on the tunnel segments had finished, and the backfilling operation was taking place.〔 〕 The foundations had been built and the steel frame of the supermarket erected. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gerrards Cross Tunnel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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