By ashleykaren
Through its Connecting Europe Facility, the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) project awarded a further €700M (£599M) for investment from the European Union.
The BBT is a new rail under construction underneath the Brenner Pass on the Italian and Austrian border. It is being constructed through the Alps and links Verona (Italy) to Munich (Germany) through Innsbruck, Austria. The central tunnel between Fortezza and Innsbruck will be 55km, making it the third longest rail tunnel in the world, while there will be a total of 230km of tunnels throughout the whole project.
Because of the varying geological conditions, the BBT is bored with a mixture of drill and blast techniques and TBMs. Approximately 50% is being constructed by blasting and 50% by tunnel boring machine.
One of the European Union’s priority projects is the TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Networks), which intends to facilitate the large-scale development of European infrastructure.
The BBT is being delivered jointly by Austria and Italy, is believed as the showcase project of the TEN-T, and will become part of the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor.
The BBT is represented primarily for freight transport, enabling a modal traffic shift from road to rail. In addition, passenger trains can travel through the tunnel. Thanks to the virtually horizontal tunnel train, traffic will no longer have to contend with the steep up- and downhill slopes on the Brenner railway line, that by now is over 150 years old.
Total EU funding for the Brenner Base Tunnel has currently reached €2.3bn (£1.97bn), which accounts for about half of the cost of the central tunnel. Nevertheless, the remaining costs are being shared between Italy and Australia.
Almost 2,000 workers are employed on the Brenner Base Tunnel in Austria and Italy. Once the tunnel completely opens in 2032, some staff and operatives will have been employed on it for most or all of their working lives.
