Peter Teuscher declares that he is ‘not stressed’ by long hours of work. Which is just as well, because he works plenty of those keeping track of the varied tasks needed for a project as big as the AlpTransit Lötschberg link.
The 37km-long western tunnel for the scheme is the first to come on line in 2006 and construction on three of the four big contracts for the scheme is starting now. The last section is under bid.
“We are happy with progress right now,” Teuscher says, “but our biggest task is to keep the momentum going. Pushing the consultants is the important task. My strongest thing is going forwards, forwards.”
Client monitoring of the scheme is being carried out with a small team based in Thun, a picturesque Alpine town south of Bern, which is Teuscher’s home town, although he has not worked there for many years.
He has worked in the capital Bern, most recently on a year-long project for the Canton before joining AlpTransit in mid-1999.
He has also worked in many other Swiss cities, and on big projects throughout Europe, especially in Germany, where he was involved with the Tiergarten soft-ground rail tunnels across the front of the Reichstag building.
“I suppose I have worked in most kinds of tunnelling,” says Teuscher, with characteristic understatement. He has lived civil engineering, including tunnels, for most of his working life and was made president of the Swiss Tunnelling Society 18 months ago.
He has experience of most sides of the industry, beginning with a 10-year stint at the contractor Losinger in Bern, which he joined at the age of 17 in 1960, working in the drawing office and on site. He qualified as an engineer by studying for the HTL degree during the evenings.
Teuscher then moved to consultant Emch & Berger and acquired a range of experience on many general civil engineering projects. After a further 10 years leading projects, from 1980, he became involved with the AlpTransit scheme in 1990 on the construction of a test tunnel. There have been many other Swiss projects; a marketing appraisal of the Brenner north pass, a brief stint with government, followed at Canton level in Bern.
“And then I became a client,” he says, referring to his move to BLS in mid-1999. He took over the project leadership at the beginning of the year.
This wide spectrum of experience will stand him in good stead, he believes. It means that he can try to see all sides in arguments and, hopefully, resolve problems early.
Teuscher believes that the client should have a small team and open access for the consultants and contractors. His headquarters comprises just 20 people, including the public information service.
“I am sure you can only be successful with good people and a small organisation,” he says. “As a consultant I worked with many companies and governments; Turkish, Swiss, German – and always the smaller force was easier.
“With a big organisation you do not know who to deal with for a problem and often, they change around,” he says. “Things get referred on and you have to wait a long time for an answer. But consultants need decisions quickly.”
Teuscher has a rule that all problems that arise should be decided within the same week. “We have a meeting on the Monday where we discuss the risks and the finance, and then decide,” he says. Not everything is resolvable, he concedes, but as far as possible it is done, and the system works.
Fast decisions also involve long-term thinking, he says. “We have to be sure we can realise the operation of the tunnel, and that means winning approvals for things that will not happen for five years, perhaps, “Trackside plant, environmental measures, signalling equipment, water processing, noise barriers, and much more have to be given approvals, certificates, local authority clearance and so forth.”
“All this must be done in parallel, because all these issues, even aspects of how the tunnel will be operated – all these can affect the sites.”
Despite what seems like a paperwork mountain Teuscher is keen to get out to visit the sites at least two days a week. Visiting allows him to stay in in touch with the local communities, and so he meets them about every two months, sometimes addressing evening meetings. He says they, too, need access to the client with problems. “There is a lot of public relations to do.”
The project is helping the region with tax revenue from its many workers. However, communities of a few hundred people can also feel swamped or threatened by such a project, he believes.
Despite early starts and late finishes Teuscher relishes the task. “It is a passion, I would say.”
