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what happens when something goes wrong (or just needs scheduled maintenance) and they have to send a team down to work on it? are the workers going to need scu

what happens when something goes wrong (or just needs scheduled maintenance) and they have to send a team down to work on it? are the workers going to need scuba gear to breathe?

jcrawfordor 5y ago
My guess would be portable ventilation equipment - already commonly used for maintenance access to underground utility infrastructure. They will probably need to provide access to the tunnels from above at reasonably frequent intervals for maintenance access (e.g. to "unstick" disabled vehicles) but since these wouldn't be used for evacuation of more than a small number of people requirements would be very relaxed. The same accesses would serve to run blower ducts when work is being performed, and workers would wear gas monitors. This is all pretty standard for telecoms tunnels, sewers, etc. Safety evacuation requirements are also easier to meet when you limit tunnel access to a trained workforce under a permit system, compared to a situation where you have the general public in the tunnels. Emergency rebreathers, for example, can become part of your plan. A higher level of safety can be assured for workers since a permit system means that a control center will have positive accountability of everyone in harm's way.
- bombcar 5y ago
  Exactly. Miners have an elaborate safety setup that doesn't have to be anywhere near what passenger tunnels have, because the miners can be trained and react to the situations as necessary, whereas the best you can hope for passengers is they remember the safety briefing and how to exit the vehicle quickly.
  - bobthepanda 5y ago
    Also, miners can be told to wait in a safety area with supplies stocked for the very predictable amount of miners, and so can go a longer without extraction. Obviously you still want to extract them as quickly as possible but it’s easier to manage.
hwillis 5y ago
Why would they? There's nothing consuming the oxygen. You don't need scuba gear to go spelunking. The only issue is removing heat, and you probably don't need much airflow to do that.
- jhgb 5y ago
  Inert gas in an automated subterranean cargo transportation network could be interesting, though. No risk of fire?
- rtkwe 5y ago
  There are all sorts of ways for the environment to become toxic; loads of chemical reactions consume oxygen [0], gases leaking from the ground could displace the oxygen eg Xenon gas, etc. Even without those over time maintenance crews will consume the air in an area through both respiration and equipment work. [0] One relatively common danger to bulk cargo ships is rusting of transported cargo consuming the oxygen in a enclosed space then crews becoming incapacitated when they enter for maintenance or other activities.

what happens when something goes wrong (or just needs scheduled maintenance) and they have to send a team down to work on it? are the workers going to need scuba gear to breathe?

jcrawfordor 5y ago

My guess would be portable ventilation equipment - already commonly used for maintenance access to underground utility infrastructure. They will probably need to provide access to the tunnels from above at reasonably frequent intervals for maintenance access (e.g. to "unstick" disabled vehicles) but since these wouldn't be used for evacuation of more than a small number of people requirements would be very relaxed. The same accesses would serve to run blower ducts when work is being performed, and workers would wear gas monitors. This is all pretty standard for telecoms tunnels, sewers, etc. Safety evacuation requirements are also easier to meet when you limit tunnel access to a trained workforce under a permit system, compared to a situation where you have the general public in the tunnels. Emergency rebreathers, for example, can become part of your plan. A higher level of safety can be assured for workers since a permit system means that a control center will have positive accountability of everyone in harm's way.

bombcar 5y ago
Exactly. Miners have an elaborate safety setup that doesn't have to be anywhere near what passenger tunnels have, because the miners can be trained and react to the situations as necessary, whereas the best you can hope for passengers is they remember the safety briefing and how to exit the vehicle quickly.
- bobthepanda 5y ago
  Also, miners can be told to wait in a safety area with supplies stocked for the very predictable amount of miners, and so can go a longer without extraction. Obviously you still want to extract them as quickly as possible but it’s easier to manage.

hwillis 5y ago

Why would they? There's nothing consuming the oxygen. You don't need scuba gear to go spelunking. The only issue is removing heat, and you probably don't need much airflow to do that.

jhgb 5y ago
Inert gas in an automated subterranean cargo transportation network could be interesting, though. No risk of fire?
rtkwe 5y ago
There are all sorts of ways for the environment to become toxic; loads of chemical reactions consume oxygen [0], gases leaking from the ground could displace the oxygen eg Xenon gas, etc. Even without those over time maintenance crews will consume the air in an area through both respiration and equipment work. [0] One relatively common danger to bulk cargo ships is rusting of transported cargo consuming the oxygen in a enclosed space then crews becoming incapacitated when they enter for maintenance or other activities.