Lilia's patrons from the St.Peter/Ellbögen primary school visited the BBT

After the children of the Wipptal elementary school in St. Peter/Ellbögen had named our tunnel boring machine (TBM) “LILIA” in June 2002 as part of the project “A name for the TBM”, we were very pleased to welcome all our small patrons and their teachers to our construction site today.

To make this special morning possible for all 60 children and teachers of the school, they were picked up from school by bus. Equipped with helmets and high-visibility vests, they went directly to the BBT construction site "Sillschlucht-Pfons" in the Ahrental valley, where LILIA and her TBM twin sister IDA will begin their approximately eight-kilometre journey underground in a few weeks.

The creative painting of the first segment, which LILIA will install as part of the lining of the tunnel, brought an immediate flash of colour to the grey, cloudy day. Meanwhile, each class and their teacher, one at a time, had the special opportunity to visit the tubbing ring factory located directly on the construction site as part of a guided tour with our experts.

Afterwards, the outing continued to the "Tunnel World" adventure and information centre in Steinach am Brenner, where our lively group of visitors was able to explore the interactive exhibition and solve a quiz. After a well-deserved snack, they were ready for the photo shoot with the mascot "Dynamo Boom" in front of the TBM drill head which is set up next to the entrance to the Tunnel World information centre. The group was truly impressed by its size. On the way to the construction site in Wolf near Steinach, the children had many interesting and unusual questions about the Brenner Base Tunnel project, which showed their interest in the project being built right where they live. After a drive through the Padaster tunnel to the Padastertal landfill, the children were able to take another look at this part of the construction site and its technical facilities before heading back to school in Ellbögen. Many of the children announced during the excursion that they would come with their families to the Ahrental construction site next Sunday, April 23, for the "Open Tunnel Day". We look forward to seeing them - and all the other guests.