By Ashley Karen
A Vinci-led consortium of contractors has won an agreement to recover excavated materials on the French side of the Mont-Cenis base tunnel (known as the Mont d’Ambin Base Tunnel).
The work concerns processing 23 million tons of materials mined on the French side of the 57.5km-long tunnel via the Alps, which is said to be the most extended rail tunnel in the world once finished.
The tunnel is calculated to cost approximately €8 billion and will carry a high-speed rail connection between Turin in Italy and Lyon in France.
The consortium comprises Carrières du Bassin Rhônalpin, Eurovia Alpes (the lead and a Vinci Construction subsidiary), Terélian (two Vinci Construction subsidiaries), Granulats Vicat (two Vicat subsidiaries), SATM, Spie Batignolles Malet, Spie Batignolles Valérian and GIE GMM 73.
The contractors will work on three materials processing stations, three permanent storage sites, eight logistics platforms, 15 km of conveyor belts, and a complete train loading facility. As reported, they intend to reuse 50% of the excavated material.
Moreover, the consortium will deliver 78,000 hours of work and training for people on integration pathways during the 120 months of work.
Vinci Construction is already concerned with the Lyon–Turin construction site, excavating 23 km of the twin-tube tunnel between Modane and Saint-Martin-de-la-Porte, organizing the Avrieux shafts construction near the future safety base at Modane and on the La Maddalena niches, on the Italian side of the Alps to make lateral niches to reinforce the vault and widen the tunnel.
