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2009-04-07

water week: the unwanted flow

Contrary to what one might believe, water is a major issue in the subway. Tunnels lie beneath the rest of the urban environment. That's pretty obvious. Unfortunately, the bedrock is not completely dry. There will always be water permeating caves and tunnels. Dripping onto the platforms. Trickling along cables and infrastructure. Destroying artistic decorations. Given enough time, water is a certainty. Look closely at this photo and you'll see pipes running along the rocky roof above the platform in Skarpnäck. That's the name of the game in subway maintenance. Water.

Skarpnäck (map) 9 March 2009 | others bloggar

water week is a theme shared by the following blogs:
stockholm by pixels - The World According to Pia - Ystad Daily Photo

14 comments:

humanobserver said...

Now that is amazing. yes I observed this photo very closely and found it quite interesting.

Julie said...

That is bare rock? To the best of my knowledge our tunnels are all encased in concrete "sleeves". I am doing a post tomorrow about the vehicular tunnel underneath our harbour which floats in a sleeve on the harbour floor.

In your photo, what is the sensing device hanging from the front of the ceiling.

I like the perspective of the photo: convenient that there was a train on either side!

Lena Möre said...

Du är en konstnärlig fotograf! Färger och perspektiv som är helt fantastiska. Är det verkligen T-banan i min stad Stockholm som kan vara så vacker?
Du kan!

Pia K said...

Really. Really. Really. Nice capture this is!

Lowell said...

What a terrific photo! I had never thought of water as being a problem in subways. Maybe that's because we have no subways in Florida!

And the reason is likely our porous, limestone stuff and lots of water. Dig down two feet in South Florida and you'll hit water!

Victor said...

Informative post and beautiful photo - always a good combination. Cheers!

Halcyon said...

As long as the name of the game is not rats, I'm ok.

stromsjo said...

From this angle, I'm reminded of another magic red cave we've visited - the one in Solna.

humanobserver: You never know when you might need a plumber, even in the subway...

Julie: Bare rock and a bit of paint, I'd say. From what I've been told this is unusual. I believe Seoul, South Korea has a similar geology.

This is an end station so having trains on both sides is a frequent state of affairs. I agree that they improve the view. Symmetry-wise for instance.

As for the sensing device, I haven't got a clue. No promises but I'll do some research. Thanks for asking!

Lena Johansson: Nu gör du mig lite generad :) men jag gillar också den här bilden. Ibland blir de bra. Stationen är vacker, väl värd att begrunda och beundra för den som inte har bråttom. Man ska helt enkelt inte ha bråttom. (Det där lät väl misstänkt enkelt?)

Pia K: Appreciate those words!

Jacob: Thanks. For reasons geological (and way beyond my lack of clue) the bedrock in most of Sweden is very stable. Carving out tunnels and caves is relatively easy as compared to other places on this planet. Building a subway in limestone sounds like a challenge!

Snapper: Cheers right back!

Halcyon: ...and the bad news is... yes, we do have a growing population of rats. They're everywhere and the large subway network is no exception. Sorry if I shattered an illusion of yours...

Thanks all for stopping by, hope you're enjoying our water week !

Fredrik said...

Magnificant!

cieldequimper said...

They've made a good job of conceiling them. I love this photo, the colours, the symmetry... There's water (and probably other liquids :-() trickling everywhere in the métro in Paris and ummm... thousands of rats...

Unknown said...

This shot is out of this world! Fantastic composition and fantastic ceiling, even more, I think, with the water story and pipes!

stromsjo said...

They're so entirely different, these stations. I spent some time yesterday in a greyish cave covered in children's drawing which have been blown out of proportions. More on that later.

Fredrik: Thanks!

cieldequimper: Don't forget paper. Someone came up with the brilliant idea to distribute free newspaper substitutes. Consequently, there is now paper in droves everywhere in our subway. The fire authorities are not amused. The rats have not yet commented.

JM: Glad you enjoy it! So did I.

Thanks all.

Bernt Seipl said...

Per, den här är grymt bra! Konceptet liknar min bild från Rissne, men du har gjort det bättre.

stromsjo said...

Tack Bernt. Synd bara att det inte var korta tåg (eller vidare vinkel)...

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