There was light at the Italian end of the world's longest railroad tunnel. An excavator recently broke through a wall separating two sections of the $9.6-billion Brenner Base Tunnel, creating a 24.1-km continuous bore from the south portal at Fortezza to the Austrian border at Brenner.
Since the machine driving the exploratory tunnel reached the border at Brenner in November, there is now a continuous bore in Italy. Both main Italian drives are due for completion by this year's end. Partly because of a contractual dispute, work in Austria is less advanced.
挖掘机闯入了将两个部分分开的墙的最后部分。
Photo courtesy Webuild
Excavating 5 km of both tubes southward from the Mules access tunnel took about 3.5 years, according to BBT SE, the project company jointly owned by Austria and Italy. Meanwhile, another team dug the final 500 m from the south portal, with the twin bores breaking through by May 19.
Work on the short southernmost Isarco River underpass contract is just over 80% complete, according to the consortium of Webuild S.p.A, Strabag A.G., Strabag S.p.A., Consorzio Integra and Collini Lavori S.p.A.. It won the $320-million contract in October 2014.
BBT女发言人说，较长的双子驾驶合同将在今年年底左右突破。根据BBT的数据，“ mules 2-3”合同涵盖了整个计划最多的隧道，总计约65公里。其中包括39.8公里的主驱动器和14.8公里的探索性隧道。
Excavation took about 3.5 years on the Brenner Base Tunnel section where the breakthrough occurred.
Photo courtesy Webuild
BBT awarded in September 2016 the seven-year, $1.1-billion contract to a consortium including Astaldi S.p.A., which was since acquired by Webuild. Other consortium members originally included Ghella S.p.A., Oberosler Cav Pietro S.r.l., Cogeis S.p.A. and PAC S.p.A.
The consortium's tunneling machine Serena completed the exploratory drive to the border after 3.5 years' work in November. Two other TBMs have 4.4 km to complete on the west bore and 2.2 km on the east.
一旦在2032年完成，该隧道将在奥地利的因斯布鲁克和意大利的Fortezza之间行驶64公里。
Photo courtesy Webuild
奥地利的进度在2020年末击中了一个重大障碍，当时BBT取消了在隧道细分市场的争议中，在PFON-BRENNER部门上覆盖了约25公里的隧道合同。
Valued at $1 billion when signed in April 2019, the original 74-month contract went to a consortium of PORR Bau GmbH, G. Hinteregger & Söhne Baugesellschaft m.b.H., Società Italiana per Condotte d’Acqua S.p.A., Itinera S.p.A.
所有者呼吁今年1月进行新的出价，旨在在今年年底授予69个月的合同。根据BBT的说法，在Innsbruck，奥地利和意大利的Fortezza之间行驶64公里，相距40-70 m的双8.1 m-Dia隧道将构成世界上最长的地下铁路，该铁路将于2032年开放。
