Construction Progress

Four construction sites are currently in operation, two in Austria and two in Italy. You can see the details of the construction lots by clicking on our interactive route plan. The excavation progress reports of the individual tunnel structures in the various construction lots are updated weekly. Work progress is shown on a graph.

GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE CONSTRUCTION LOT

This construction lot, worth 380 million Euro, was awarded to the Strabag/Salini-Impregilo bidding consortium in Summer of 2014. Excavation works began in September 2014 and will last until Spring of 2019. The construction lot includes 38 km of tunnel excavation work.

It consists of several structures:

Tulfes emergency tunnel
Innsbruck emergency stop
Main tunnel tubes
Connecting tunnels
Ahrental-Pfons exploratory tunnel

CURRENTLY ONGOING CONSTRUCTION WORK

Emergency tunnel

The emergency tunnel is being driven parallel to the existing Innsbruck railway bypass; it will be 9 km long and the excavation cross-section is 35 m². The drill-and-blast excavation work on this tunnel starts from three points at the same time: from Tulfes westwards (already completed), from the Ampass access tunnel eastwards and again westwards. The emergency tunnel was completed in Summer of 2017.

Main tunnel tubes

The main tubes have been excavated by blasting according to the so-called New Austrian Tunnel Construction Method. The ceremonial first volley was set off on 19/03/2015 in the presence of EU Commissar Violeta Bulc and the Ministers of Transportation of the 7 Alpine countries (Austria, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, Liechtenstein and Slovenia. This stretch includes 3 km of main tunnels with an excavated cross-section of about 70 m2 .

Connecting tunnel between the BBT and the Innsbruck bypass

Construction has been under way since Summer of 2015 on the connecting tunnels between the Brenner Base Tunnel and the existing Innsbruck bypass. The connecting tunnels will also be excavated by blasting, with a cross-section of about 115 m2 .

Exploratory Tunnel

The construction lot includes the construction of the 15-km stretch of exploratory tunnel between the Ahrental junction point and the town of Pfons. The open gripper TBM with a length of 200 m has started on September 26th, 2015. Until spring 2015 the machine will excavate 15 km of the exploratory tunnel in south direction.

EXCAVATION DATA (July 16th, 2019)

Emergency tunnel (completed)
Excavation 9,700 m	Length 9,700 m	Cross-section 35 m²

Main tunnel (completed)
Excavation 5,960 m	Length 5,960 m	Cross-section 70 m²

Connecting tunnels (completed)
Excavation 6,840 m	Length 6,840 m	Cross-section 115 m²

Exploratory Tunnel Ahrental - Pfons
Excavation 15,040 m	Length 15,077 m	Cross-section 49 m²

Safety and logistic tunnels (completed)
Excavation 3,850 m	Length 3,850 m	Cross-section 115 m²

Overview map

CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS: EXPLORATORY TUNNEL AHRENTAL-PFONS

Gallery

GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE CONSTRUCTION LOT

The “Pfons-Brenner” construction lot H51 is the biggest and at the same time the southernmost stretch of the Brenner Base Tunnel in the Austrian project area. Around 52 kilometres of tunnels will be excavated as part of this construction lot. The project area extends from the township of Pfons to the border at the Brenner Pass.

The construction lot includes the construction of 37 kilometres of main tunnel tubes, around 9 kilometres of exploratory tunnels and the emergency stop at St. Jodok am Brenner.

The work on this construction lot began in late autumn of 2018. Construction is expected to last 74 months. The contract amount is about 966 million Euro. The joint venture comprising the Austrian construction groups PORR Bau GmbH and G. Hinteregger & Söhne Baugesellschaft m.b.H., the Italian construction groups Società Italiana per Condotte d’Acqua S.p.A. and Itinera S.p.A. is responsible for the tunnel section.

The construction lot includes:

Stretches of the main tunnels
Cross passages between the two main tunnels
Stretches of the exploratory tunnel
The St. Jodok emergency stop

Current construction work

Main tunnels

In this construction lot, 37 km of main tubes will be excavated. Several tunnel boring machines (TBMs) will excavate the main tunnel tubes.
Assembly of the machine will take place in large chambers. The TBMs are moved forward in the start tunnels after assembly and start driving from there. The other stretches will be built by blasting.

St. Jodok am Brenner emergency stop

European safety standards provide for emergency stops at a maximum distance of 20 kilometres for tunnel structures, such as the Brenner Base tunnel. A total of three emergency stops are planned in the BBT.

In the area of the St. Jodok emergency stop, the two main tunnel tubes will be driven with a slightly larger cross-section in order to offer better chances of rescue. A middle tunnel runs parallel between the two main tunnel tubes in the area of the emergency stop. This middle tunnel can be reached from both main tunnels via cross-connections and fire doors. In order to improve the chances of rescue for passengers in the area of the emergency stop, the standard distance between the cross-connections will be reduced from 333 metres to 90 metres.

Data for the St. Jodok emergency stop:

Main tunnels emergency area: 590 metres
1 central tunnel, length: 900 metres
1 pressure relief tunnel
6 exhaust extraction cross-tunnel
6 connecting tunnels
1 turning niche

Wolf Exploratory tunnel

The exploratory tunnel lies between the two main tunnels and about 12 m below them. Approximately 1.2 km of exploration tunnels had already been excavated as part of the preliminary lot “Wolf 2”. The further 9 kilometres of exploratory tunnel will be excavated by blasting.

Excavation data (July 16th, 2019)

Main tunnel
Excavation 235 m	Length 37,000 m	Cross-section 85 m²

Exploratory tunnel
Excavation 804 m	Length 8,800 m	Cross section 61 m²

Safety and logistics tunnels
Excavation 669 m	Length 6,200 m	Cross-section 20-350 m²

Overview map

Gallery

GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE CONSTRUCTION LOT

The construction lot “Periadriatic seam”, carried out between October 2011 and the summer of 2015, comprised the excavation of 3.7 km of the main tubes and 1.5 km of the exploratory tunnel. The crossing of the Periadriatic fault line, one of the biggest geological fault lines in the Alps, was accomplished without a hitch.

In May 2016 the biggest construction lot of the Brenner Base Tunnel project, known as “Mules 2-3”, with a contract volume of 993 mln euro, was awarded to the bidding consortium Astaldi S.p.A., Ghella S.p.A., Oberosler Cav Pietro S.r.l., Cogeis S.p.A. and PAC S.p.A. Works started in September 2016.

This lot reaches from the construction lot “Isarco river underpass” up to the border with Austria. In the course of a 7-year construction period, 39,8 km of the main tubes and 14.8 km of the exploratory tunnel will be excavated, including the emergency stop in Trens and its access tunnel as well as the bypasses which connect the main tubes every 333 m. A total of approximately 65 kilometers of tunnels will be excavated.

Once this construction lot is finished, all excavation activities in the Italian project area will be complete.

CURRENT CONSTRUCTION WORK

Access to emergency stop in Trens
The blasting work to connect the Mules access tunnel with the future emergency stop in Trens started in December 2016. The 3,8 km long tunnel with a cross-section of approximately 80 m² will presumably be excavated by 2022.

Exploratory Tunnel
The drill and blast excavation works on the exploratory tunnel northwards resumed on 13.02.2017. After approximately 600 m drill and blast excavation, the rest of the stretch, all the way to the border, is being excavated with a tunnel boring machine (TBM). The driving operations are expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

Main tunnels
The drift of the main tubes northwards resumed on the 13th of march 2017. The excavation for the first 0.8 km was carried out by drill and blast, followed by two tunnel boring machines heading north in spring 2019. The TBM in the west tunnel will probably reach the state border at the end of 2021, the TBM in the east tunnel will arrive at the Brenner slightly later, at the beginning of 2022.
The first blast of the southwards drift took place on the 3rd of april 2017. The southern end of the construction lot is expected to be reached in mid-2020.

EXCAVATION DATA (July 15th, 2019)

Access tunnel to the emergency stop
Excavation 2,426 m	Length 3,797 m	Cross-section 80 m²

Main tunnels
Excavation 8,998 m	Length 39,856 m	Cross-section 85 m²

Exploratory tunnel
Excavation 5,718 m	Length 14,757 m	Cross-section 35 m²

Safety and logistics tunnels
Excavation 1,081 m	Length 6,930 m	Cross-section 26-56 m²

Overview map

Gallery

TBM for the exploratory tunnel Mules-Brennero (excavation since May 2018)

Arrival of a TBM component for the exploratory tunnel Mules-Brennero (excavation since May 2018)

Tübbing production plant at Hinterrigger

Northwards construction of the main tubes

TBM "Virginia" for the excavation of one of two main tubes in northward direction

TBM "Flavia" for one of the two main tunnels towards Brennero

GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE CONSTRUCTION LOT

The southernmost construction lot of the Brenner Base Tunnel, worth 303 million Euro, was awarded to the RTI Salini-Impregilo S.p.A., Strabag AG, Strabag S.p.A., Consorzio Integra and Collini Lavori S.p.A. bidding consortium in October of 2014. This lot links the Brenner Base Tunnel with the existing Brenner line and the railway station in Fortezza. The work is scheduled to be completed in 2022.

Since in this section the tunnel tubes are just a few meters below the surface, a portion of the activities pertaining to this construction lot will be carried out building artificial tunnels. Furthermore, as loose fluvioglacial materials and the groundwater layer will be crossed, it will be necessary to adopt specific ground consolidation procedures including ground freezing and the so-called jet grouting.

CURRENT CONSTRUCTION WORK

As part of the preparatory work, by the end of 2016 the state road SS12 was re-routed and two bridges, an underpass under the Brenner railway line and a direct highway access were built. This means that both supply and removal transports can take place while avoiding traffic through the surrounding towns.

The current phase (main construction phase I) provided for the construction of four shafts, 20-25 metres deep, to access the rock faces of the Isarco River Underpass. Furthermore, it includes the excavation - already completed - of the access tunnel on the right side of the valley using drill and blast, and of part of the main tubes and the connecting tunnels, to be built with the drill and blast method.

As a preparatory measure for the relocation of the existing line which will be carried out during the following construction phase, slope stabilization and earthmoving measures will be implemented.