By Lynda Myer
Following advancing solemnly on the first tunnel on the route of the second track Divača-Koper in June, currently the second tunnel has now been under process and on 30 November the contractors working on the second track broke through the Stepani tunnel (T3).
As the shortest tunnel on the route, Stepani tunnel (T3) 335 m long. The digging process of this tunnel, which was up to Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezi, was commenced at the end of September 2022 and completed in around two months.
Using NATM technology (the so-called New Austrian Method) as in other tunnels of the second track, the Stepani tunnel is built in a single-tube version. It is a method of mechanical excavation with a tunnel excavator and blast drilling.
The Intended route of the second track passes through seven tunnels, while around 75% of the route is underground. The contractors have to excavate 37 kilometers of tunnels (main and service pipes) along the entire route, so far they have dug a third of all tunnel pipes.
