"Fascinating and always impressive!", "There's a lot more going on here than just the construction of a tunnel", "From the outside, you'd never guess what is happening down here". These were some of the comments of the thousands of visitors who made it a point to come to the Brenner Base Tunnel today, Sunday, to explore the event area - 430 m below the city area of Innsbruck/Igls - at about 20° C. Today's weather showed one of the many advantages of the tunnel: the fact that it is not affected by the weather. While it was raining outside, our visitors explored the event area - 430 m below the area of Innsbruck/ Igls - at a temperature of approximately 20o C.
Equipped with a map of the event area and all the necessary information, our guests entered the tunnel directly with the shuttle buses starting from the central station and the DEZ shopping centre in Innsbruck. In addition to information, catering and entertainment in the event area, the two "walking circuit" for free exploration also gave the opportunity to get an idea of how extensive and branched out the tunnel system of the BBT is. Of the approximately 230 km of tunnels to be built, more than 4.5 km were "on display" today, including the 2.4 km long Ahrental access tunnel through which the journey into the tunnel began.
The many information stands on various topics that play a central role in the construction of the BBT already showed how varied this railway infrastructure project is. Experts from BBT SE provided information to all interested parties on topics such as geology, railway outfitting, tunnel construction methods, surveying, the environment, etc.
For those who, after so much information, were looking for a moment of relaxation, the tunnel cinema offered numerous films about the BBT project. "Life Radio Tirol" broadcast live from the tunnel today and provided additional entertainment. Visitors had the opportunity to have lunch directly in the tunnel, thanks to the catering service provided for the event.
The young visitors found the exhibited construction machines, the numerous play areas, as well as the play with the mascots Dynamo Sprenger and "BeeBT" "really cool". As a reward for answering the questions in the children's quiz booklet, they were allowed to pick up a treat before taking the shuttle buses out of the tunnel and go back to the surface.QUOTESTwo tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are currently being assembled in the "Sill Gorge-Pfons" construction lot. The two approximately 200-metre-long "underground factories" named "Lilia" and "Ida" will soon begin their approximately eight-kilometre-long journey southwards to mechanically excavate the two main tunnels. As part of a game with prizes, some visitors were given the unique opportunity to visit a TBM and marvel at its gigantic dimensions. Once again, the teams of the fire brigade and rescue organisations as well as many employees of BBT SE - who were always available in the event area - looked after the safety of our guests and answered their many questions about our project.
