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The works for the new construction of the second bore of the 8.3 km long Gleinalm Tunnel in Austria have already been under way since November 2013. In December 2015, the ASFINAG awarded the contract...

The 1910 m long Scheibengipfel Tunnel is the key structure on the 3.1 km long Reutlingen bypass on the German federal main road B 312. The two-lane tunnel runs through the ridge of the...

The ceremonial opening of the Wehrhahn Line in Düsseldorf, the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, took place on 20 February 2016. Surrounded by businesses and shopping streets, the tunnelling project to extend the Düsseldorf Stadtbahn was constructed between 2007 and 2015 through the heart of the city. Particularly in the inner city, the responsible engineers had a number of challenges to overcome, for example the restricted space available, the requirement to minimise nuisance to the shopping area and tunnelling beneath a 100-year old department store.

Modelling the contact conditions between the outer and inner shell represents an important element in conjunction with numerical calculations of tunnel shells. Tests on the mechanical bonding behaviour of tunnel shells and waterproofing systems in double-shell tunnels have been carried out in the lab. The aim of these analyses was to ascertain the properties of waterproofing membranes and protective geotextiles when installed in the tunnel and when the bearing behaviour of the primary shotcrete shell is reduced. Towards this end, tests were executed in order to investigate the behaviour given various mechanical effects on the bonding system, consisting of shotcrete, geotextile, waterproofing/sheet membrane and inner shell concrete.

The Südbahntagung conference was initiated in 2008 as a forum at which findings and case studies on major tunnelling projects in Austria such as the Semmering Base Tunnel, Koralm Tunnel and the Granitztal valley chain of tunnels as well as other projects on the southern line (Südbahn) could be presented and discussed. The 2015 event with more than 250 participants was held on November 27 and 28 in Graz.

The main breakthrough took place in the western bore of the Ceneri Base Tunnel on January 21, 2016. Shortly after this final round of blasting the tunnellers were able to exchange handshakes. The inner lining of the tunnel is due to follow in the months to come together with installation of the rail engineering work. The 15.4 km long Ceneri Base Tunnel is scheduled to become operational in late 2020.

At the end of October 2015 around 30 members of  ITA COSUF (Committee on Operational Safety of Underground Facilities/Fig. 1) took the opportunity to visit the Elbe Tunnel including a tunnel...

The Swiss private railway company BLS has awarded a contract for design services for the further improvement of the NEAT Lötschberg Base Tunnel to the consortium IG VALB (Ingenieurgemeinschaft Vollendung Ausbau Lötschberg-Basistunnel), who won the contract in competition with several Swiss and international competitors. The design works cover twinning the existing tunnel from Ferden to Mitholz and as an option full twinning from Ferden to Frutigen.

Dr.-Ing. E.h. Martin Herrenknecht (73) builds the world’s biggest tunnelling machines. The tunnel boring machines produced by his Herrenknecht AG are first choice when spectacular projects are involved. They have been used for instance to drive 85 km of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, the fourth tube of the Elbe Tunnel in Hamburg and just recently, the Eurasia Tunnel deep beneath the Bosporus in Istanbul. The Werner von Siemens Foundation has now honoured Martin Herrenknecht’s outstanding technical achievements with the most important German prize for technology, the Werner von Siemens Ring.