By lyndamyer
The advancemet of Lot H53 on the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) is undergoing using the second of two TBMs that Herrenknecht has presented.
Construction of the East Tunnel towards Innsbruck on the Pfons-Brenner section of the railway is due to be done using TBM Olga by ARGE H53 BBT, a consortium of Porr and Marti, whereas TBM Wilma, which was presented in March, will dig the West Tunnel.
The planned date for commencing the tunneling process is autumn this year.
With a 10.37m diameter and 183m length, each of the double shield machines weighs around 2,700 tonnes and Olga is the eighth TBM that Herrenknecht has supplied for the BBT.
As the largest construction lot in Austrian history, Lot H53’s value is €959m (US$1bn).
Connecting Italy and Austria, the 64km Brenner Base Tunnel is the longest rail tunnel in the world and is being built beneath the Alps. It also aims to decrease the journey time from Fortezza to Innsbruck from 80 minutes to 25 minutes. It will be a key part of the Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
