TRANSPORT | RAIL & METRO
Pre-planning
Western Europe North-East Asia
North America Australasia
South-East Asia South Asia
Middle East and North Africa Eastern Europe
Sub-Saharan Africa Latin America
0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000
US$32 billion (2024 values), and well behind Germany, Switzerland and others. Now leading in the region according to the latest analysis, the GlobalData report for Q2 2026 says that most tunnel-related UK projects are in Transport, with Rail & Metro at nearly US$82 billion and Roads at almost US$17 billion. A substantial pipeline for the UK also involves projects for power cable tunnels, to strengthen the electricity grid (about US$67 billion). The latest GlobalData analysis, though, comments
on the strain to public finances in the UK, as well as rising construction costs and labour shortages – “factors expected to slow the initiation of new projects and delay project delivery”. By stage, most of Western Europe’s pipeline is for
GlobalData is a leading provider of data, analytics and insights on the world’s largest industries, including construction. The information reviewed for this article is contained in the following quarterly report from GlobalData - Project Insight: Global Tunnel Construction Projects, Q2-2026. For more in-depth data and details, go to:
www.globaldata.com
24 | August 2026
overall tunnel-related projects in pre-execution and execution phases — with the latter category the largest by a large margin, at US$245 billion, buoyed by a substantial contribution from UK (about US$138 billion). The total across both Pre-planning and Planning is more than US$46 billion, almost US$14 billion of which relates to the UK, leading in this too. By sector, Rail & Metro activity (across all phases) accounts for more than half (57%) of the total pipeline of tunnel-related activity in Western Europe. The other sectors and shares are: Electricity Tunnels (20%); Roads (20%); and, Water and Sewerage tunnel infrastructure is low, at only 2.4%. However, the Fehmarn immersed tube project funding
is assigned to Germany in the analysis although the bi- national road-rail link is led by Denmark. In terms of tunnel length, according to the analysis the
region has 1,334km of tunnels, of which almost 700km is Rail & Metro. In terms of funding type, most countries in Europe are public funded, except for relatively notable shares of Public/Private in Denmark (23.0%) and Austria (17.8%), and also some in UK (7.7%). It is in the UK where Private funding is greatest, and by far, at almost 41%; other nations barely make single digits. Regionally overall, Western Europe sees the funding led by Public (almost 73%).
300,000 350,000 Above: Global – Tunnel Construction Project Pipeline, Value by Stage and Region ($M) Source: GlobalData
Eastern Europe The total tunnel-related construction pipeline in Eastern Europe is about US50 billion, which is a relatively solid increase from US$40 billion in Q3-2024. In the analysis, the region extends into Central Asia and includes a different selection of countries from that area than before — bringing in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, as well as Russia. Kazakhstan was in the list last time but not in the current iteration. Nationally, activity in listing of Eastern Europe nations is led by the Czech Republic (US$22 billion) — in a leap up from the country’s much lower ranked place last time, according to the analysis. This time, it is followed by Tajikistan coming in (US$10 billion) and then the listing ranks as last time, with Romania (US$8.2 billion, down from US$10.7 billion last time, in 2024 values) and Turkey (US$4.7 billion, down from US$7 billion last time). Then comes Russia (included this time), Bosnia & Herzegovina, Poland, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. By stage, and as with Western Europe, the tunnel-
related projects are weighted toward Pre-Execution and Execution and totalling more than US$46 billion — or almost 92% of the total. As with Western Europe, Transport projects – and
particularly Rail & Metro – dominate the pipeline in Eastern Europe. Rail & Metro’s share of the total is 71%. Roads tunnel projects still only feature with a minor share (almost 8%), according to the analysis, and behind Electricity tunnels (20%). The share of Water and Sewerage tunnel infrastructure is so low it barely makes note in the ranking. In terms of tunnel length, according to the analysis the
leaders are Turkey (88km), Tajikistan (78km) and Czech Republic (72km). Public funding of projects is by far the leading mode
in this region (almost 90%, compared to 80% in Q3- 2024), although Public/Private is reasonably present (10%, compared to the previous 19%). Public/Private is the only approach to tunnel-related project funding in Bulgaria and Kyrgyzstan. Private funding only shows up in Poland and Uzbekistan, in single-digit percentages in both cases.
Planning Pre-execution Execution
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