Brenner Base Tunnel | Contractors set tunnelling record on Alps rail project
Construction of the new rail tunnels through the Alps has set a new record for the project with significant advances made on the Italian side of the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) project by contracting joint venture BTC, formed by Astaldi, Ghella and Cogeis.
The record – 860m of tunnel bored and lined in one month – was set in March on the Mules 2-3 section but details of the progress on what will be the world’s longest underground rail link have only just been released.
BTC is using three Herrenknecht tunnel boring machines (TBM) to drive to main bores and an exploratory tunnel, which will later be used as a service tunnel, from south to north on the project. The record was set by a 10.65m diameter double shield TBM, named Virginia, after recording an average advance rate of 27.7m per day during the month with a daily best performance of 36.75m.