As an underground trenchless technique for installing and replacing culverts, pipe ramming is often the most efficient and economical. At times it may be the only feasible option. Such was the case in a southern Illinois railroad culvert installation in flooded ground conditions.CN Rail Line contracted HURK Underground Technologies of Grinnell, Iowa, to install two 180-foot-long, 60-inch-diameter culverts using pipe ramming beneath the railway in Cairo, Illinois. The culverts were designed to relieve an existing, partially collapsed, 48-inch steel culvert with reduced capacity.Work began in November 2013. From the start HURK was faced with daunting obstacles. For one, the job
