By ashleykaren
Brenner Base Tunnel SE has granted the construction of the Pfons – Brenner tunnel section contract to a consortium of Porr Bau GmbH, Marti GmbH and Marti Tunnel AG. Lot H53 is Porr’s second contract for the Brenner Base Tunnel. The contract – the most extensive construction lot in Austrian history – is worth €959m (US$1bn).
The Porr-Marti consortium will utilize two tunnel boring machines plus blasting to construct two single-track tunnels with a total length of 25.2km. The machines will have an excavation diameter of 10.37m and advance up to 30m per day.
In addition to the central tunnels, another 3.6km of exploratory and cross-cut tunnels are planned.
As reported, the construction will take approximately six years.
The firm is also constructing the about 600m-long connection between the tunnel and Innsbruck’s key railway station via the Sill Gorge by constructing Lot H21. It is planned to have the Sill Gorge section completed by 2024.
Porr CEO Karl-Heinz Strauss expressed: “We are delighted to be tackling this project of the century with our partner Marti,”
“The Brenner Base Tunnel is a key response to the core issue of mobility that Europe needs to address.”
The 64km BBT – the longest rail tunnel in the world – is being constructed beneath the Alps to link Italy and Austria, cutting the journey time from Fortezza to Innsbruck from 80 minutes to 25 minutes.
It will be a fundamental part of the Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
