NEWS

Everyone likes to be on the safe side - on Saturday, November 23rd the yearly drill in the Brenner Base Tunnel was held, involving fire departments, law enforcement and Red Cross groups in the project area.
The main training area this time was the construction site for the southernmost construction lot in Austria (Pfons-Brenner) which is located in Wolf. About 140 people took part in the drill, training for a possible actual event.
"The biggest tunnel construction sites in Austria are located here in the Wipp valley, the huge size of the underground works and the number of miners working there mean that intervention personnel are faced with very special challenges", said the construction lot coordinator, Michael Kronthaler. "In order to guarantee that rescue efforts will go off without a hitch in case of any emergency, various scenarios must be trained for realistically."
The drill included several scenarios, starting with the alarm given by the command post and including tactical use of rescue containers and the use of underground technical infrastructure. A huge number of safety measures are in place on this tunnel construction site, where five excavations are currently under way using explosives. "Communications between the various organisations and careful coordination with BBT SE, the project vehicle, and the constructors' consortium are extremely important here", notes construction director Christoph Esslinger.
"This sort of drill is essential so that all rescue organisations are aware of both BBT SE and the construction company's personnel and can familiarise themselves with the local conditions. This is the only way to make the correct decisions in difficult conditions to provide help quickly and safely", according to the Red Cross, the fire departments and the police.