The Core of the European North-South Rail Link

Corridors are being established with the
help of the Trans-European Networks (TEN), which connect major sea ports with the
European rail infrastructure. It is the European Union’s goal to set up goods transport and
passenger traffic on an economic and ecologically friendly basis. The Scan-Med Corridor is
the longest and most important link, running from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. The Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) represents a decisive core element of the European Corridor No. 5 from Helsinki to Valetta (Malta). The costs for
the 64 km long underground rail link are
earmarked at 8.5 billion euros; 40 % of this amount is borne by the EU with Italy and
Austria each contributing 30 %.

The starting shot for driving the first bore of the Brenner Base Tunnel was fired on March 19, 2015 in the Innsbruck Ahrental Valley. EU transport commissioner Violeta Bulc took over the patronage of the tunnel and symbolically initiated the blasting process. The following day the 2015 BrennerCongress “Cross Alpine Corridors” took place in Innsbruck, attended by a whole series of leading experts. Together with his colleagues for trans-European networks, EU Coordinator Pat Cox discussed challenges and opportunities for cross-border transport arteries. Representatives from north-west Europe and...

Related articles:

Issue 07/2011 Austria/Italy

Brenner Base Tunnel: Main Phase started

Phase III, the main construction phase of the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT), currently the European Union’s /EU’s) most important transport infrastructural project, was started on April 18, 2011 in...

more
Issue 06/2010

BrennerCongress 2010 at Innsbruck/A

The Brenner Base Tunnel was at the centre of the 2010 BrennerCongress, which took place from Feb. 25 to 27, 2010 in Innsbruck/A. More than 300 congress participants were informed about the stage...

more
Issue 04/2013 Austria/Italy

BrennerCongress 2013 in Bolzano

Uni.-Prof. Bergmeister, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna/A, opened the 6th BrennerCongress in Bolzano/I on February 21, 2013. He chaired the International Symposium jointly...

more
Issue 02/2011

Brenner Base Tunnel: Project status

1 Basic concept The Brenner Base Tunnel is a nearly horizontal rail tunnel with 2 parallel tubes. The tunnel runs for 55 km between the railway stations of Innsbruck and Fortezza and is connected...

more
Issue 04/2016 Switzerland

Tunnelling the Gotthard: Tunnellers present comprehensive Engineering Book about the Gotthard Base Tunnel

In the middle of May, a few weeks before the official ceremony to open the Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT), the Swiss Tunnelling Society (Fachgruppe für Untertagbau/FGU) presented their comprehensive...

more