With the complicated geology alone in Southern Europe, there are plenty of challenges for the region’s tunneling projects to overcome. Unfortunately, government cost-cuttingmeasures are being added to that list, causing delays or stopping projects in places such as Spain, Portugal and Greece. But it’s not all bad news, as major transportation projects, particularly in Italy and the Alps push forward.

Spain had transport on the brain with an ambitious high-speed rail agenda and metro projects happening among the nation’s larger cities. The Ministry of Public Works wanted 7,000km of high-speed rail operational by the end of this year. A second phase with a 2020 deadline would bring the 300km/h network’s total up to 10,000km making it the most extensive in Europe, with links to Portugal and France. Much of the work is now completed or on its way to completion and there is very little infrastructure work left to do in Spain, says Remo Grandori, president of Seli.

In Spain, he explains, the infrastructure boom was financed by the European Union Community. “It was foreseen that this money would have a limit—when the infrastructure reaches the European standard,” he says. “Now this moment has come and unfortunately it was at the same time as the financial crisis happened and the combination of the two has made for a disaster. But it was foreseen. That’s why Spanish companies already started two, three years ago to look at the foreign market.”

For example, the 6km long La Cabrera railway tunnel in Valencia is set to open before the end of the year. Work is underway constructing the first phase of Bilbao’s new metro Line 3. At the moment, Bilboa’s Metro network consists of Lines 1 and 2, and two more are being studied, Lines 4 and 5, which could extend public transport to the eastern side of the city. This expansion is part of citywide recovery effort having lost much of its industrial business.

Tunnelling on Line 3 is using roadheaders as the main means of excavation in a sequential excavation process. Two contractor joint ventures won contracts for phase one tunnelling, which runs from Casco Viejo to the surface at Etxebarri/San Antonio and is currently being undertaken.

Times aren’t as tough in Italy compared to Spain because it wasn’t as dramatically affected by the financial crisis, says Grandori. “There are jobs, but it’s not a brilliant period.” Metro projects in Milan and Rome are offering work. There are high-speed rail opportunities in Florence, and the 16m diameter underground highway being excavated by TBM between Bologna and Florence is quite notable for the region.

Busy in the Alps
This month will see the first final breakthrough between Sedrun and Faido at the Gotthard Base Tunnel, on 15th October. At the Sedrun segment, additional exploration of the rock under the breakthrough area took place this summer as a core bore with a length of more than 220m was driven west from a niche in the south drive. Except for relatively short lengths, constructor Alp Transit Gotthard found that the bore indicated generally good geological conditions.

Four Herrenknecht gripper TBMs have been used to bore the 57km rail tunnel through the Swiss Alps. As of 1 September, 97.5 percent of the total 153.5km of tunnels, shafts and passages have been excavated. Roughly 38km on both the west and east tubes have completed linings and are ready for railway technology to be installed. Completion of the USD 9bn project is expected for 2017, and it will be the longest road or railway tunnel in the world.

To the east, the Alps will also see tunnelling for the Brenner Base Tunnel between Innsbruck, Austria, and Fortezza, Italy, in as early as two years. The 55km rail tunnel will consist of two tubes, each with a single track, interconnected every 333 meters. The tunnel will connect with the existing underground Innsbruck bypass, for a total railway distance of 62.7km. Another tunnel in between and 10m-12m below the two main tubes, is first being excavated for geological and hydro geological exploration. This must be completed before the main tubes can start construction.

The first lot, from the Italian side, has seen 10km excavated, and a breakthrough at 10.5km—where a 1.8km lateral access has been constructed—is expected in November. For the 5.6km Austrian lot, conventional driving started in December 2009 and 1.4km has been excavated. Work on a 2.4km long lateral access is at the 300m point. Three more lateral access points in Austria must be completed before the main tunnels can go ahead, says Simon Lochmann, head of communication for the Galleria di Base del Brennero/Brenner Basistunnel (BBT), which is overseeing the project.

If all goes well, the BBT hopes to start tendering contracts for the main tunnels at the end of November. It is waiting for the final green light from Austria’s Ministry of Transport, which is reviewing all large infrastructure projects and will finish its evaluation in mid-October.

Lochmann says there is nothing to worry about in this evaluation. “We are quite confident that this has absolutely no impact on our project because we have submitted a new prospectus for the first two years, not to do as much work as was expected.” Work originally planned for 2011 and 2012 will start off slower or later on but should make absolutely no change to the project, he explains. EUR 800M (USD 1.14bn) of the funding will come from the European Union until 2013, which should cover about 27 percent of costs. Remaining funds are being covered 50/50 by Italy and Austria.

There is also the nearly 52km long base tunnel that will connect Italy with France through the Alps on the Lyon-Turin railway. Once the project is completed, travelling between the two cities by train in either direction will be a journey of less than two hours, compared to the current four hours. Plans call for a bored tunnel at an altitude between 570m and 750m above sea-level, with a maximum Slope of 12 per cent.

So far three access tunnels in France have completed as of June this summer. Around the same time, a new preliminary design had been presented to Italy. Following an inquiry and approval by Italian public authorities, is scheduled for late 2010, according to the company in charge of the project, Lyon Turin Ferroviaire (LTF). In a report for September 2010, LTF says excavation for the main tunnels can be expected in 2013 for operation in 2023.

Commuting in the east
Following Greece’s financial turmoil this summer, new projects have been delayed and existing projects are struggling, due to the lack of finance, says Grandori. Only major projects, like metro work in Athens and Thessaloniki – which combined carry a EUR 2bn (USD 2.8bn) plus price tag – seem to be on track to go forward. In Athens, building a new metro network for the city has been an undertaking for nearly 20 years, since the Athens Metro Base Project started in 1992. At the moment, Athens Metro network is focused on the EUR 515M (USD 710M) extension towards western suburbs, terminating in Piraeus. The project includes 7.6km of underground line to be completed by TBM and six new stations. Six joint ventures have expressed interest in constructing the project, which is expected to start in 2011.

In Thessaloniki, construction started in June 2006 on the 9.6km long metro line plus 13 stations. TBMs have bored more than 5,000m as of August. Already, two extensions on the Thessaloniki Metro are being weighed up. A 4.8km underground line towards Kalamaria with five stations was put to tender in May 2009, with the goal of awarding the contract in 2011.

Meanwhile in Istanbul, crowded and limited transportation leads the way for the Marmaray Project, a commuter rail line that will carry 75,000 passengers per hour in each direction via an immersed tube under the Bosphorus Strait. With two road bridges, it’s the third crossing to connect both sides of the city.

Work has been delayed by extensive archaeological investigations as one of the four new stations is to be located in the heart of the city’s historic district and another has been discovered to be a former Byzantine Port. Though 2010 will mark a number of milestones for the project, including the possible opening of one track of the 1,387m immersed tube tunnel section.

The entire commuter rail upgrade has a USD 3bn price tag, with one of three contracts, for the construction of tunnels and stations, awarded to Taisei in 2004. The other two contracts concern commuter rail and rolling stock production. Taisei says, with the ongoing investigations, it’s uncertain whether the line will be operational by 2014 as is currently planned.


The Alps are seeing several projects, like the Brenner Base Tunnel Excavation of an exploratory tunnel prior to the main Brenner Base tunnels