About the Hungarian Tunnelling Association (HTA)

The Association for Utilization of Underground Space was founded in 1994, from the Work Committee established in 1985. The Association for Utilization of Underground Space has voted for name changing at the General Assembly in January 2005. So our updated name now is Hungarian Tunnelling Association (HTA) which is more easily noticeable in international relations.

Our Association is the member of International Tunnelling Association (ITA-AITES), and the representative of Hungary. ITA was established in 1974, which has 53 members, but upon all these further more 280 companies represent and help it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s work as Affiliate Members.

HTA is a small professional Association, in which the wide scale of this profession is represented. Constructor-, designer-, and investor companies, different type of engineering-, and consultant firms, , chamber of engineers, universities, professors and independent engineers are also represented in our association. We have 52 members of which 27 are corporate members and the rest are individual members.

One of our aim is to promote the construction of natural and built underground places in cooperation with international organizations, the utilization of these places with functional and theoretical experience, and to reduce harmful environmental effects. In order to promote the validation of internationally accepted principles and methods and to develop national and international exchange of knowledge we organize conferences, co-operate with domestic associations, organizations and institutions operating at similar and related specialty. We issue professional informative documents, studies, references, technical and organizational proposals, which help the activity of concerned organizations and their members.

Our Association would like to be an active consultant for all those governmental organizations who lays a claim for this.

Significant inland/domestic programs were the following hold until 2004
*1994Budapest Organizing an international seminar: "Gap between the claim and the realization at underground transport project in Central- and Eastern Europe" and ITA Executive Committee meeting.
1994-1996 TU-TI BAU organized the seminars.
*May 1998 Common civil-engineering days with TU-TI-BAU.
*May 1999 Budapest Expanded general meeting, report about the state of Metro 4 project and reviewing the soil-mechanical drilling under the Danube.
*November 1999, Pécs, Civil-engineering possibilities at traffic network of Southwest (Dél-Dunántúl) Region International Professional Lecturers Day.
*May 2000 Budapest, Tunnel and Civil Engineering Professional Days, common program with the Chamber of Civil-Engineers, With KTE, and with TU-TI-BAU.
February 2001, Budapest, the Association took part in the program of Chamber of Engineers Geotechnical Department hold at the Hungarian Scientific Academy
*2002 Eger, Tunnel and Civil Engineering Professional Days, common program with the Chamber of Civil-Engineers and with KTE.
*2004 Gyor, Tunnel and Civil Engineering Professional Days, already as an international Conference. 35 foreign delegates attended this conference that is observed with wider international interest from year to year. It was sponsored by ITA-AITES, and the General Secretary of ITA-AITES was present, as well.
2006 Pécs, Tunnel und Civil Engineering Days, as an international Conferenc.
From this time we have decided, we will organize a Conference every second year, and the next one is going to be also international. The Association in order to accomplish it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s goals, organizes lecturers\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' day every year in different actual topics, like in 2004 at Bátaapáti about the "Location of small and medium radiation of radioactive wastes", and about the geotechnical questions of the extended section of Metro 4 between Keleti railway station and Bosnyák square.
*Lecturers days are to be continued in 2005, previously firms will introduce the newest techniques of measuring the deformations and tensions caused by underground works, then the last developments of safety techniques at field of NATM tunnelling will be presented. Metro 4 is a big challenge for our members again.

International programs - on which HTA was represented
- World Tunnelling Congress, organized by different member country every year -ITA-AITES\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' general Annual Assemble
-International Workshops, trainings
-STUVA -the German member of ITA holds advanced lectures every second year about the biggest tunnelling works in Germany, where executive professional companies present a very wide range of exhibition materials. This is a good opportunity to get familiar with the developed techniques.
-The Congress Concrete Days at Vienna, hold every two years.
- The ÖGG Geocolloquium in Salzburg/Austria, every year.

Hungarian delegates are represented in the following ITA-AITES\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' working-groups, which elaborate recommendations in several themes:
-WG 3: Contractual practices in underground construction, (by Dr. Gyula Greschik and Pál Kocsonya)
-WG 5: Health and Safety in work (Sandor Fehérvari)
-WG 6: Maintenance and repair of underground structures, (by György Posgay)
-WG 11: Immersed and floating tunnels (dr. Gyula Greschik)
-WG 12: Shotcrete use (by Dr. Miklós Müller)
-WG 13: Indirect and direct advantages of underground urban public transport system (by Pál Kocsonya as vice animator of WG 13)
-WG 15: Underground and environment (by Dr. Tibor Horváth)
-WG 20: Urban problems, underground solutions ( Pál Kocsonya)

Our Association can be found on the web since 2001 on the following homepage: www.ita-hun.hu. We would like to inform about actual events, about the state of underground works at home and abroad, about developments, programs, and about our members, who can introduce their publications on it. The homepage will be developed continuously.

Last year, our members have met several well-known and acknowledged representatives of profession. Many of them could have an insight to tight professional details, data, or could take part in one of the underground works, deepening their knowledge for domestic use. Mr. Gusztav Klados -our member - took part in the construction works of Metro in Athen, in Kuala Lumpur, in New Delhi). Dr. Gyula Greschik -our Honorary President - is a consultant of tunnel building in Turkey.

Several Metro-line are under construction In Vienna. We often visit these new works at the common program with the Austrian Tunnelling Association in order to make one step ahead, based on our new experiences.

There are traditional events in some countries. where a number of our members are present, so in Vienna Betontag (bi-annum) the STUVA Tagung in Germany (bi.annum).

ITA_AITES has been organizing since 35 years the World Tunnel Congress. The Hungarian Association had been represented by some members since early nineties.

Association organized an Engineering Postgraduate Study in four semesters - started in October 2007, will be finished in May 2009 - together with the Precongress Education, which was accredited as part of the engineer training for keeping the authorization on profession.

Associate organizes about 6 lecturer days for engineers every year. So in 2008 was 6 days accredited by the Hungarian Chamber of Engineers.

Our next big task was organizing the WTC2009 in Budapest on 23-28 May. Also the Pre-Congress traning in 22-23 May. After Agra WTC2008 was few time for the preparatory work, and it was very intensive. Budapest had a very successful WTC2009, what\'s responses could be hear from all over the word. The president of ITA-AITES, Martin Knights handed an ITA-Award to Dr Gyula Greschik, who was the foundation president of the Hungarian Association, and for his excellent work to Pal Kocsonya who was the president of the WTC Organizing Committee and he is being the president of the Hungarian Tunnelling Association. You can see the congress website until the next Congress (WTC2010), where you could read information about this-May Congress and you can find many photos were taken during the Congress, (www.wtc2009.org).

Pál Kocsonya
President