Lyon Turin Ferroviairre (LTF) has awarded the construction contract for a 7km long pilot bore at Venaus near Susa in Italy as part of its site investigation works for the twin 53.1km long Lyon to Turin base tunnel mega-project (T&TI, February, p13).
The US$106M contract was won by a group of companies led by Italian firm CMC (Cooperativa muratori e cementisti) and included Strabag of Austria together with Bentini Costruzioni, Cogeis and Geotecna, all from Italy.
Work is due to get underway this spring and last for three years. The cost is being borne by France, Italy and the European Union. The call for tenders was launched last August and sought to find the “most economically advantageous bid rather than just the cheapest”.
The 6m diameter Venaus exploration tunnel will be bored along the alignment of the proposed future base tunnel. Running underneath the Ambin Massif, it will have a maximum overburden of approximately 2,500m.
The exploration tunnel will provide a detailed insight into the area’s geology and enable an evaluation of the difficulties present before driving the base tunnel. The information obtained will determine the selection of construction methods for the base tunnel as well as allowing better cost estimates to be derived.
There is an option within the contract for a possible 3km extension to the survey gallery, although it is already the largest single engineering project of the Lyon-Turin rail link.
Similar work is being carried out by LTF in the Maurienne Valley in France where access tunnels are being driven at Modane and Saint Martin la Porte. A third French access tunnel at La Paz is currently being procured with construction work due to get underway later this year.
