AFTES Congress2017 in Paris

Quelle/credit: Roland Herr

Phillippe Millard, president of the Congress Committee, during the opening of the AFTES Congress in Paris

Quelle/credit: Roland Herr

ITA president Tarcisio Celestino (row 2, on the right), AFTES president Yann Leblais (row 1, on the right) and many prominent tunnellers at the opening of the Congress on November 13, 2017

Quelle/credit: Roland Herr

The exhibition was only quiet when the lectures were being delivered

Quelle/credit: Roland Herr

Paper being presented in a hall during the AFTES Congress

Quelle/credit: Roland Herr

Well-attended seminar staged by ITA COSUF in Paris

Quelle/credit: Roland Herr

ITA COSUF round-table on safe operation of underground facilities

Quelle/credit: Roland Herr

Dr.-Ing. Roland Leucker, chairman of ITA COSUF from 2013 till late 2017/April 2018, when his successor is officially confirmed

Quelle/credit: Roland Herr

Maximilian Wietek was chosen as the new ITA COSUF chairman by the General Assembly in November 2017

Quelle/credit: Roland Herr

The French Tunnelling and Underground Space Association AFTES (L’Association Français des Tunnels et de l’Espace Souterrain) held its international congress from November 13 to 16, 2017 in the Palais des Congrés close to the Arc de Triomphe in the centre of Paris. Staged every three years in conjunction with the ITA, it bore the motto: “The Underground Space, our Wealth”.

“We’re delighted to be able to welcome more than 4000 visitors to the French Tunnelling and Underground Space Association’s 15^th International Congress” is how Phillippe Millard, the chairman of the Organising Committee (Fig. 1), put it when opening the Congress accompanied by an Exhibition at the Palais de Congrés. The participants included a not inconsiderable proportion of leading lights on the international tunnelling scene represented by 511 delegates and visitors from 56 countries including ITA president Tarcisio Celestino (Fig. 2).