Underground Cable Pull Planning Checklist: 7 Things to Consider Before the Pull

What contractors, estimators, and procurement teams should consider before the pull begins.

By the time the rope starts moving, a lot of the decisions that will determine how an underground cable pull goes have already been made.

The route has been studied. Pulling tension has been calculated. Equipment has been selected. Rope has been ordered. Crews have been scheduled. Permits, traffic control, vault access, staging and logistics may all be in motion.

Get those decisions right, and the actual pull can be almost uneventful.

Which is exactly what you want.

An underground pull is a system. Cable, conduit, rope, equipment, route geometry, crews and site conditions all interact. No two pulls are exactly alike, and some of the most consequential variables are also the hardest to predict.

Good planning can't eliminate every unknown. But it can make sure you've accounted for the ones you can.

Here are seven things worth putting on your underground cable pulling checklist.

1. Know the pull

Start with the fundamentals.

What cable are you installing? How long is the run? What are the anticipated pulling tensions? How many pulls will the project require? Where are the bends, vaults and transitions? What equipment will be used?

Look at the complete route, not simply Point A and Point B.

Every bend changes the pull. Route geometry affects pulling tension and sidewall pressure, and multiple bends can compound the forces acting on the cable and pulling system.

For a complex underground transmission project, understanding that route is the foundation for nearly every decision that follows.

Put it on the checklist:

• Cable type, size and weight
• Total pull length
• Anticipated pulling tension
• Number and degree of bends
• Sidewall pressure
• Vaults and transitions
• Conduit size and route
• Number of planned pulls
• Pulling equipment and setup

SME opportunity: What are the first questions E-J asks engineering when evaluating a new underground pull?

2. Plan for what the drawings can't tell you

A pull calculation can tell you a lot.

It can't tell you everything waiting underground.

Conduit condition may vary from what was anticipated. Water, dirt and debris can increase friction and abrasion. Temperature can affect pulling conditions. An unexpected offset, damaged section of conduit or tighter-than-anticipated bend can change the demands on the pulling system.

And once the line disappears into the conduit, much of that is happening out of sight.

That's why margin matters. So does choosing equipment that can handle more than the ideal conditions on paper.

Put it on the checklist:

• Known conduit condition
• Water or debris
• Expected friction
• Temperature and potential heat buildup
• Abrasion points
• Unknown or difficult-to-inspect sections
• Previous issues along the route

SME opportunity: Which underground conditions are hardest to predict? How often does the field differ meaningfully from the plan?

3. Choose pulling rope for the job, not just the load

Breaking strength matters. Obviously.

But if that's the only number you're evaluating, you're missing much of what the rope will actually be asked to do.

Consider how its construction responds to abrasion, friction, heat and repeated contact with conduit. Consider diameter, weight, handling and compatibility with pulling equipment.

And on a project involving multiple pulls, ask another important question:

What happens after Pull #1?

A rope may have enough strength to complete a pull while still accumulating wear every time it travels through the system. On a project with dozens of planned pulls, the ability to maintain reliable performance over time matters just as much as initial strength.

The job isn't one pull. Neither should be your evaluation of the rope.

Put it on the checklist:

• Required working strength and safety factor
• Rope construction
• Diameter and equipment compatibility
• Weight and handling
• Abrasion resistance
• Friction and heat exposure
• Expected number of pulls
• Inspection requirements
• Retirement criteria

SME opportunity: How does E-J determine what rope to specify, and how heavily does expected service life factor into the decision?

4. Plan beyond the first pull

This is where procurement and project planning meet.

If you're estimating a project with 30, 40 or 50 underground pulls, don't just ask:

What does a reel cost?

Ask:

How many reels do we expect to buy to finish the job?

That leads to a much more useful set of questions.

How many pulls do you expect from each reel? How often will rope need to be changed out? How much crew time does that require? Where will backup reels be stored? How quickly can a replacement get to the site?

Large industrial rope isn't necessarily something you can replace with a quick trip to a distributor. If another reel has to be manufactured, lead time itself can become a project consideration.

So the lowest purchase price doesn't necessarily mean the lowest cost to complete the work.

For multi-pull projects, cost per pull can tell you more than cost per reel.

Put it on the checklist:

• Number of pulls planned
• Expected rope service life
• Number of reels anticipated
• Cost per reel
• Estimated cost per pull
• Changeout labor and time
• Storage and transportation
• Replacement availability
• Manufacturer lead times

SME opportunity: How do estimators and procurement teams determine how many reels to purchase? What level of contingency inventory is typical?

5. Ask the uncomfortable question: What happens if the rope fails?

Nobody starts an underground cable installation expecting a rope failure.

Someone still needs to plan for one.

If a line fails somewhere underground, locating the break is only the beginning. Can the line be recovered from an accessible location? Will excavation be required? What happens to crews and equipment while work stops? Could traffic-control windows or permits be affected? Is replacement rope available?

Then put a number against the downtime.

What does an hour cost? Four hours? A day?

That's when the cost of a broken rope stops being the cost of a broken rope.

Backup reels, additional schedule, extra labor and recovery plans are there for good reason. They protect the project from a failure that could have consequences far beyond the pulling system itself.

The goal isn't to stop planning for the worst.

It's to understand which risks you may be able to reduce in the first place.

Put it on the checklist:

• Likely failure points
• Rope and cable recovery plan
• Access to the underground route
• Potential excavation
• Crew and equipment downtime
• Traffic-control implications
• Permit implications
• Replacement rope availability
• Estimated cost of downtime

SME opportunity: What does a rope failure actually look like operationally on a major underground project?

6. Build reliability into the plan

Contingency planning is smart.

So is reducing the likelihood that you'll need the contingency.

For years, contractors have managed demanding underground pulls by building in redundancy: additional rope, backup reels, added capacity, additional schedule and recovery plans.

But another approach is to start with pulling equipment designed around the conditions underground.

That's the thinking behind GlideLine.

Yale Cordage developed GlideLine specifically for underground electric transmission pulling. Its double-braid HMPE construction pairs a high-strength HMPE core with a protective HMPE jacket designed for repeated exposure to demanding underground conditions. Its outer construction helps address abrasion and contact with conduit, while REDLIGHT™ Technology gives operators a clear visual indication as the end of the rope approaches.

GlideLine doesn't eliminate the unknowns of underground pulling.

It was engineered to make the rope less of one.

7. Plan for Pull #42 when you're planning Pull #1

E-J Electric put that idea to work on the Champlain Hudson Power Express, a major high-voltage transmission project with demanding underground installations through and around New York City.

The conventional 12-strand, single-braid rope previously used on the project completed seven pulls.

Then E-J began using GlideLine.

One reel completed 42 underground pulls with zero rope failures.

Six times the number of pulls achieved with the conventional rope previously used on the project.

And 42 wasn't where GlideLine reached the end of its service life. The project was complete.

Yale took samples of the field-used rope back to its laboratory for post-use testing. After those 42 pulls, GlideLine retained approximately 90% of its minimum breaking strength.

That's a compelling performance result.

But for someone planning a project, it's also something else:

A planning result.

Fewer anticipated reels. Fewer planned changeouts. Less contingency inventory. And one major project variable that becomes easier to account for.

A better pull starts before the pull

Underground cable pulling will never be completely predictable.

That's why good planning accounts for the complete job: route geometry, anticipated loads, underground conditions, equipment, rope selection, service life, logistics and what happens if something goes wrong.

And for a multi-pull project, don't just ask whether your pulling rope has enough strength for the first pull.

Ask how confidently you can plan around it for the entire job.

Planning an underground pull?

Download the Underground Pull Planning Checklist for a one-page guide to the questions contractors, estimators and procurement teams should consider before the first pull begins.

Pull Smarter, Not Harder.