Breaking New Ground: Rock Splitting at Montreal’s REM Airport Station

A Complex Infrastructure Challenge

Building a subway station directly beneath one of Canada’s busiest airports presented a significant engineering puzzle. The Réseau express métropolitain (REM) project needed to excavate 71,000 m³ of solid limestone right under Montréal-Trudeau International Airport – all while planes landed and took off overhead.

Traditional blasting was completely out of the question. With thousands of passengers passing through daily and continuous airport operations, any method involving explosives posed unacceptable safety risks.

The Innovative Solution

FDDF, a drilling and blasting specialist, made construction history by deploying the Yamamoto HRB-1700 rock splitter – the most powerful splitter available – for the largest rock splitting project ever attempted.

This wasn’t just scaling up existing technology; it was pioneering an entirely new approach to major excavation projects.

Project Scope

The scale was substantial:

• 71,000 cubic meters of limestone with RQD 100+ (extremely hard rock)
• Started 6 weeks behind schedule but had to finish on time
• Two-shift operation running around the clock
• 17 workers coordinating complex operations in confined spaces

Equipment Used:

• 1 primary HRB-1700 splitter with 2 backup units
• 2 large 40-ton excavators for excavation
• 1 specialized 20-ton excavator for splitter operation
• 4 Epiroc T-40 drill rigs working simultaneously
• 1m x 1m drilling grid achieving 1.5m depth per round

Remarkable Results

Despite starting 6 weeks late, the project finished exactly on schedule by May 2023.

Peak Performance: When operations ran smoothly, the team achieved 480 m³ excavated in just 10 hours – proving the method’s incredible efficiency potential.

Average Output: 300 m³ in 20 hours, with drilling productivity of 30 meters per hour through solid limestone.

Important Lessons Learned

The project revealed two major efficiency killers:

Workspace Conflicts: Running excavation, stabilization, and other operations simultaneously in the confined shaft reduced efficiency by up to 60%. The optimal approach would separate daytime excavation from nighttime stabilization.

Access Issues: Keeping the access ramp in the shaft during early excavation phases significantly constrained workspace and slowed production.

These insights led to schedule adjustments (7-day work weeks) that ultimately saved the project timeline.

Industry Game-Changer

The Montreal Airport project shattered previous assumptions about rock splitting capabilities. It proved that splitter technology could handle massive excavation volumes traditionally reserved for blasting – even in the most sensitive, high-traffic environments imaginable.

Key Achievement: Successfully excavated 71,000 m³ of solid limestone beneath an active international airport without a single blast, maintaining passenger safety while meeting impossible deadlines.

This project established a new benchmark for urban infrastructure development, opening possibilities for similar challenging projects worldwide where traditional blasting methods are simply not an option.

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