Information point Klanec (Hrpelje – Kozina Municipality)
The village Klanec pri Kozini is located in the north-eastern part of Istria, in the valley below Kozina and Slavnik, at an altitude of 412 m. The village spreads out in two directions under the hill with St. Peter’s church and two magnificent lime trees. In the vicinity are two springs of the Glinščica stream.
The second track information point is positioned in the Klanec village. It is designed as an exhibition in a watchman facility of a former water pump for steam locomotives, built after the construction of the railway lines Divača-Pula (in 1876) and Hrpelje-Kozina-Trst (in 1887). Today a technical monument, the water pump was in operation, for railway purposes, until 1970, and then, for Ina purposes, until 1980. It consisted of two external water containers with volumes 6000 and 4500 cubic metres. Both were filled from a somewhat higher Glinščica river-bed. The water pump station also served to fill and prepare water in slightly higher positioned filtering water containers. From there, water was transported using the steam pump (high pressure pump) through a 1369-metre-long pipeline to 90-metre-higher water containers placed next to the Kozina railway station. The old water pump was renovated based on an agreement on ensuring levelling measures on the second track of the Divača-Koper railway line.
The Klanec information point is set up as an exhibition in the form of an interactive presentation of the second track project. The exhibition offers visitors some general information about the railway construction and allows them to examine the geological structure in the second track area, play an instrument made of limestone, listen to construction sounds and learn about the archaeological finds discovered on the railway line.
The information point’s added value is the glossary content referring to the second track construction and geology, which can be found below.
SECOND TRACK GLOSSARY
UNDERGROUND CONSTRUCTION
The second track follows the global trend called “going underground”. The upgrades in knowledge, technology and materials when it comes to constructing an underground infrastructure enables a safer, faster and more affordable tunnel construction than in the past, which is why more and more traffic lines are now constructed deep underground. This contributes to shorter traffic connections and smaller environmental impact.
CROWN
The dig of the tunnel tube under the second track project is divided into several phases – the crown and the invert. The crown is the top half of the tube and the invert is the bottom half.
MECHANISATION
Different construction and tunnelling machines are used to dig and support tunnels: tunnelling drilling rig, tunnelling excavator, wet concrete spraying robot machine, loading machine, mobile machinery – dumpers, lifting platforms.
Apart from the basic mechanisation, other machines used in tunnel construction include smaller tunnelling excavators, dumper trucks, concrete mixer trucks, injection pumps, aggregates, compressor, ventilation systems and drilling machine for precise drilling of long horizontal wells.
MONITORING
Monitoring of flora and fauna during the second track construction is the obligation of the company 2TDK for the preservation and protection of nature.
PORTAL
A portal is the beginning or end of a tunnel at the transition point to the open railway. In a wider sense, the portal area means a part of the open railway before the tunnel, where facilities, equipment and devices required for uninterrupted and safe use of the tunnel are located.
TECHNICAL OBSERVATION
During the second track construction, an extensive program of technical observation is performed, covering geological, hydrogeological and Karstic monitoring, geodetic and geotechnical measurements and various geophysical examinations. This ensures economic efficiency, optimisation of digging works and supporting measures, sustainability and safety during construction and later when the railway is functional.
GEOLOGY GLOSSARY
FLYSCH
Sediments derived from erosion of older bedrock, were carried by rivers into the sea. At times such sands and clays, when they were not yet lithified, slid down over the edge of the carbonate platform down the continental slope into the sea in the form of submarine landslides. Such landslides generated dense sediment-laden submarine flows called turbidity currents. After having slid into deeper parts of the seas, these currents lose velocity and therefore release their sediment load. The submarine deposits generated by a turbidity current are called turbidites. The flysch is mainly made up of turbidites, organized into repeated thin layers of shale, marlstone and sandstone.
CARBONATE PLATFORM OR SHELF
Shallow marine environment between the coastline and oceanic basin where carbonate sediments are deposited. It can be flat and gently inclined – this type of the carbonate platform is called carbonate ramp. – or organisms build up a reef on its margin and a lagoon is formed between the reef and the coast. Carbonate slope usually connects outer parts of the shelf with deep oceanic floor. In some cases, carbonate platforms can be very large – examples found today include the Bahama Banks near the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
MARLSTONE
Sedimentary rock consisting of a mixture of fine-grained clay (grain size under 0.002 mm) and carbonate sediment.
FORAMINIFERA
Group of single-celled organisms, characterised by shells made of calcium carbonate of very diverse forms. The larger benthic foraminifera lived on or within the seafloor sediment, while the microscopic planktonic type floated in the water. Some foraminifera resemble ancient coins, hence their name nummulitids (from the Latin word nummus, meaning “coin”), and others, called alveolinids, had a special structure with multiple chambers, which appear, when observed under the magnifying glass, as small round holes. In some limestone layers foraminifera are accumulated in great abundance.