Nikki Scott-Despaigne Sep 16, 2016:

Haha! Makes a lot more sense than a dinette. Had visions of Barbie and Ken having a cuppa in a tunnel...

Charles Davis Sep 16, 2016:

My first reaction, by the way, was that it might be the bench part of top heading and bench excavation, and I think that is called banquette, but I'm pretty sure it's not what they're talking about here.

Charles Davis Sep 16, 2016:

Oh and by the way the hollow part in the right-hand banquette in that image is probably a cunette, so they may be referring to the profile of a structure of this kind.

Charles Davis Sep 16, 2016:

So do I Well done, Nadezhda! That must be it.

Kimberly: "banquette" can mean various things in civil engineering, some of them called benches in English. But I don't think it's likely to be anything to do with backfill here. One of the things it can mean in a tunnel is a walkway (along the side), and I think that's probably the case here.

See: https://books.google.es/books?id=jxX8nFivTXgC&pg=PA88&lpg=PA...

Also here, in section 2.3 on p. 3 (of 5), the bit about "une banquette de 1,10 m de large réservant un passage pour piétons de 0,70 m de large". It's in a road tunnel:
http://www.gir-maralpin.org/TransptsDeplacemts/RouteGrandsTu...

And look here; click on the Construction tab and then on Transformation du tunnel sud du Vispertal, where they say; "Entre autre sera renouvelé le système d'évacuation des airs ainsi que l'ensemble de la chaussée, y compris les banquettes." Click on the image and you'll see them marked (labelled "Bankette" in German).
http://vispertaltunnel.ch/francais/

Kimberly De Haan (asker) Sep 16, 2016:

I think you're right Nadeshda!

Nadezhda Damyanova Sep 16, 2016:

I also think that it is a typo but the correct word is CUNETTE (gutters).

Kimberly De Haan (asker) Sep 16, 2016:

I highly doubt it since it's a contract worth over 11 million euros for a major tunnel ;-)
In this case, I think "banquette" is something to do with backfill (I found that term elsewhere on ProZ)

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Sep 16, 2016:

typo for "d"inette? Given you have a banquette, is there some remote possibility this might be a "dinette"? Not the thing kids play with, the a dinette bar/area????