Specification incorporating the requirements applicable to the contract as a whole was completed, and the design, materials and workmanship specifications for civil engineering work were substantially completed. The preparation of the technical specifications for Electrical and Mechanical work was more than half completed, whilst the preparation of particular specifications for each station, line section and site was commenced.
13.05
In March 1974, the Mass Transit Railway Provisional Authority Ordinance came into being, setting up the Provisional Authority with executive powers to continue the work of the Mass Transit Steering Group and to plan the construction and management of the railway.
Investigation and Design
13.06
Survey work for the initial system was completed. A major site investigation contract involving over 800 boreholes and 13,000 soil tests was also carried out, thereby completing the programme of soil tests. The results were issued to the consortia in a fifty-volume report. Work was well advanced on the construction of a series of trial tunnels designed to provide information on tunnelling in soils and under atmospheric conditions that were representative of those that will be encountered during the building of the railway. It included an investigation into shaft construction by pile, caisson and "California well" methods as well as tunnelling using cement grout, chemical grout, dewatering methods and compressed air.
13.07 The Consulting Engineers arranged, on behalf of the Mass Transit Department, contracts for an investigation into the effectiveness of the proposed ventilation and air-conditioning systems. They involved the use of the modern facilities available on the premises of the British Hydromechanic Research Association in England and Developmental Science Inc. in U.S.A. By the end of the year, the experimental work was substantially complete and had confirmed the viability of the design proposals.
13.08
Detail layout drawings for the track work were prepared and co-ordinated and by the end of the year, the whole of the track work for the Initial System had been completed and the relevant information issued to the consortia.
13.09
The Consulting Engineers developed general arrangement drawings for each station, which included information on the size and shape of the structure, passenger handling equipment, entrances, ventilation shafts and plant rooms etc. Drawings for 16 out of 22 stations forming part of the Initial System were completed and issued to the Consortia. In addition, designs for three typical stations were prepared in greater detail.
13.10
General arrangement drawings were prepared for the inter-station sections, and all except four sections were completed and issued to the Consortia.
13.11
Detailed studies (including full-scale tests in London) were carried out into such aspects of the system as passenger handling, safety measures, cash handling, protection of the railway and rolling stock etc., and the results used in the design and preparation of drawings for each section.
14.1