A bit of history
The idea of building a summit tunnel under the Brenner occurred to the Italian engineer Giovanni Qualizza as far back as 1847. But it was to be another 160 years before a base tunnel was built.
In 1971 the idea of a tunnel at the Brenner was dusted off again. The UIC, the International Union of Railways, commissoned a study for a new Brenner railway with a base tunnel. By 1989 three feasibility studies had been drawn up which formed the basis for further planning of the Brenner Base Tunnel.
This was the start of the planning activities. In 1994, the European Union included the Berlin-Naples corridor in the list of priority projects. Ten years later, Austria and Italy signed a State Treaty to build the Brenner Base Tunnel. In that same year, what is today the BBT SE was established. Construction work on the exploratory tunnel began in 2008.
Timeline of the most important decisions
| 1971 | Decision by the UIC planning committee to create a „Brenner Axis“ working group with experts from the following rail companies: Deutsche Bahn (DB), Österreichischen Bundesbahnen (ÖBB), Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) and the production of a study on the New Brenner Railway Line with a base tunnel |
| 1977 | Mandate by the government of the Austrian region of Tyrol to develop a project, including the representatives of the railway companies |
| 1980 | Agreement of the Ministers of Transportation of Germany, Austria and Italy on the need for a feasibility study |
| 31.05.1985 | European agreement on important international railway corridors such as the „Oslo-Munich-Innsbruck-Brenner-Verona-Bologna-Bari“ |
| 16.04.1989 | Completion of the feasibility study on the Brenner base tunnel (1987) and declaration of the Ministers at a meeting in Udine as the „basis for all further work” |
| 06.12.1991 | Commission for further technical study of railway operations and the security concept for the total Munich-Verona axis: feasibility study 1993 |
| 10.12.1994 | European Council Meeting in Essen: the Brenner axis becomes project No. 1 on the list of TEN-V priority projects |
| 21.11.1994 | Brussels Memorandum |
| 27.09.1995 | Establishment of Brenner Eisenbahn GmbH (BEG) |
| 1996 | Planning begins for the first construction phase of the new railway line in the Lower Inn Valley |
| 23.07.1996 | Decision No. 1692/96/EG of the European Parliament: List of the 14 projects chosen by the European Council on December 9th and 10th in Essen: TEN – Axis Nr.1: High-velocity combined transport on the North-South Brenner axis from Munich to Verona |
| 15.04.1999 | Decision of the Austrian and Italian Ministers for Transportation concerning the establishment of a European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG, EWIV, GEIE) to plan the Brenner base tunnel |
| 01.12.1999 | Planning phase 1 begins for the Brenner base tunnel, by Brenner Basistunnel EEIG |
| 12.09.2001 | White Book of the European Commission: TEN-Projects, with 14 priority projects, including the Brenner Base Tunnel |
| 24.04.2002 | Approval, according to Austrian railway law, of the new railway line in the Lower Inn Valley (about 40 kilometers between Kundl and Baumkirchen) |
| 01.04.2003 | Common declaration of the Austrian and Italian Ministers for Infrastructure and Transportation |
| 10.09.2003 | Memorandum in Rome: Planning phase II for the Brenner base tunnel |
| 29.04.2004 | Decision No. 884/2004/EG of the European Parliament and of the Council to modify Decision No. 1692/96/EG: the build-up of a trans-European transportation network – priority projects to be begun before 2010; TEN – Axis No.1: Berlin-Verona/Milan-Bologna-Naples-Messina-Palermo with the Brenner base tunnel |
| 30.04.2004 | State Treaty - Vienna: Agreement between Austria and Italy to build the Brenner Base Tunnel |
| 16.12.2004 | Shareholders’ agreement between Austria, the Austrian Land of Tyrol and RFI (Italy) and establishment of the European Company „Galleria di Base del Brennero - Brenner Basistunnel BBT SE“ by merging Brenner Basistunnel EEIG |
| 21.12.2004 | Approval of the preliminary project and the environmental study in Italy by the province of Bolzano (Alto Adige) and the Inter-Ministry committee for economic planning (CIPE I) |
| 15.03.2005 | Establishment of the bilateral commission (CIG) |
| 07.03.2006 | Establishment of the Italian company „Tunnel Ferroviario del Brennero – Finanziaria di Partecipazione (TFB), which holds the Italian share of 50% of BBT SE. This holding company includes RFI with 82.796% of shares, the Autonomous Provinces of Bolzano and Trento with 6.058% each and the province of Verona with a 5.088% share (as of 2007). |
| 22.05.2007 | Establishment of the Brenner Corridor Platform under the coordination of Karel Van Miert with BBT SE and including the appropriate Ministries of Germany, Austria, Italy, the regions of Bavaria, Tyrol, the provinces of Bolzano, Trentino and Verona and the three railway companies DB, ÖBB with BEG and RFI |
| 04.06.2007 | Memorandum of the regional government in Tyrol on measures of transportation policy and concerning the Brenner base tunnel |
| 10.07.2007 | Memorandum of Understanding: the Ministers of Infrastructure and Transportation of Austria and Italy, Faymann and Di Pietro, in the presence of the German Minister for Transportation, Tiefensee, the regional president of Tyrol, Van Staa, of Alto Adige, Durnwalder, and of Trentino, Dellai, and of course of Coordinator Van Miert, to support the Brenner Base Tunnel |
| 20.08.2007 | Construction begins on the first section of the exploratory tunnel between Aica and Mules |
| 19.02.2008 | Decision by the European Parliament: co-financing of the base tunnels and the access routes with 902 million Euro by the year 2013 |
| 29.02.2008 | Completion of the final project and of the project documentation for the declaration of environmental compatibility and submission of same in Austria (18.03.2008) and in Italy (31.03.2008). |
| 28.04.2008 | Exploratory tunnel Aica-Mules: start-up ceremony for the Tunnel Boring Machine in Aica in the presence of the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano |
| 05.12.2009 | EIA approval for the Brenner Base Tunnel (Austria) |
| 16.04.2009 | Approval of the so-called “partially unified” approval procedures in Austria for: Disposal sites, Water |
| 18.05.2009 | Memorandum with Action Plan for 2009-2022 in Rome |
| 29.05.2009 | Financial Approval for the infrastructure program including the Brenner Base Tunnel by the Austrian Parliament |
| 05.06.2009 | Financial Approval for the infrastructure program with the Brenner Base Tunnel by the Austrian Bundesrat |
| 19.06.2009 | Framework agreement with 7 universities |
| 24.07.2009 | Contract between ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG and the Ministry for Infrastructure, Innovation and Technology (Austria) to build the Brenner base tunnel within the framework of the infrastructure program |
| 31.07.2009 | Approval by the Inter-Ministry Committee for Economic Planning (CIPE II) in Italy |
| 18.11.2010 | The Inter-Ministry Committee for Economic Planning (CIPE) approves financing for the Brenner Base Tunnel in Italy |
| 01.02.2011 | With the ÖBB framework agreement for 2011-2016, the Austrian government approves construction of the Brenner Base Tunnel |
| 18.04.2011 | The BBT SE Shareholders‘ Assembly make the decision to begin Phase III |
| 01.07.2011 | According to the State Treaty of 2004, the main headquarters of BBT SE is moved from Innsbruck, Austria to Bolzano, Italy |
