PROJECT | ROCK TUNNELS
BRENNER PROJECT: CONSTRUCTION TIMELINE
2007 | Aug Construction start in Italy, at Mules/Mauls Access Tunnel 2008 | April Start on south end of exploratory tunnel, at Aicha/Aica (Italy).
2009 | Oct Completion of Mules/Mauls Access Tunnel. Dec Construction start in Austria: north end of exploratory tunnel, at Sill Gorge (Sillschlucht) 2010 | July Start at Ahrental Access Tunnel, in Austria. Nov Exploratory tunnel breakthrough at Mules/Mauls from Aicha/ Aica.
2011 | Early Funding commitments greenlight the main lots.. April Start at Wolf I Lot, in Austria: logistic tunnels Saxen, Padaster. Sep Start at Ampass Access Tunnel, in Austria: Oct Start at ‘Periadriatic Seam’, in Italy for main and exploratory tunnels. 2012 | Oct Completion of Ahrental Access Tunnel. 2013 | July Completion of the Ampass Access Tunnel. Dec Start at Wolf II Lot: access, spoil removal tunnels; Padaster disposal site. Dec Completion at Sill Gorge exploratory tunnel section. 2014 | April-Sep Blasting works on the Patsch shaft, in Austria. Sep Start of excavation work on the Tulfes-Pfons Lot, in Austria. Oct Start on Isarco River Underpass Lot, in Italy. 2015 | Feb Breakthrough on Wolf II’s spoil removal tunnel. March Blasting begins on main tunnels in Ahrental. March Tunnelling finish at Periadriatic Seam. Sep Start at Ahrental-Pfons section of exploratory tunnel, in Austria. Dec Completion of the Wolf Access Tunnel. 2016 | Jan Start on Wolf section of exploratory tunnel. Dec Start on Mules 2-3/Mauls 2-3 Lot: 40km of main tunnels; almost 15km of exploratory tunnel; 10km logistics and connecting tunnels. 2017 | May, July Tulfes-Pfons: Breakthroughs on connecting tunnels; and, Emergency Tunnel for Innsbruck rail bypass tunnel. 2018 | Feb Start on Pfons-Brenner Lot: 37km of main tunnels; 9km of exploratory tunnel; 6km of logistics and connecting tunnels. May Mules 2-3 lot: launch of TBM ‘Serena’ on part of exploratory tunnel.
2019 | March Start on Wolf-Brenner section of exploratory tunnel. April Project milestone: 100km of tunnels excavated. April, May Mules 2-3: TBMs ‘Flavia’ and ‘Virginia’ launched on main tunnels.
Nov Project milestone: 50% of excavation completed. 2020 | July Austria: exploratory tunnel breakthrough, at Steinach am Brenner. Oct, Nov Isarco River underpass: start of excavations below the river. 2021 | March Isarco River: start of ground freezing for the first main tube. Oct Sill Gorge: excavation start at north portal Nov Mules 2-3/ Mauls 2-3: TBM ‘Serena’ finishes, is first tunnel to reach the border. 2022 | May Austria: Ground-breaking at Hochstegen May Italy: Mules 2-3/Mauls 2-3 meets Isarco River Underpass lots. 2023 | March Mules 2-3/ Mauls 2-3: TBM ‘Virginia’ finishes at the border. May Sill Gorge-Pfons: TBMs ‘Lilia’ and ‘Ida’ start drives start.. Dec Completions at Isarco River Underpass and Hochstegen. 2024 | Early Pfons-Brenner: Drill & Blast start on main tubes southwards.. Sep Austria: East main tube breakthrough at the northern end of project. Sep Pfons-Brenner: TBMs ‘Wilma’ (West main tube) and ‘Olga’ (East) start drives.. Dec Austria: Completion of construction works at northern end, at Sill Gorge.
2025 | May Mules 2-3/ Mauls 2-3: TBM ‘Flavia’ finishes at Brenner Pass. Project milestone: All mechanised excavation on the Italian side is finished. July Project milestone: 200km of tunnels excavated. Aug Sillschlucht-Pfons: TBM ‘Ida’ completes drive southwards. Sep Breakthrough of the exploratory tunnel at the border, between the construction lots Mules 2-3/ Mauls 2-3 and Pfons- Brenner. Project milestone: first continuous tunnel between Italy and Austria on the Brenner Base Tunnel. Oct Sillschlucht-Pfons’: TBM ‘Lilia’ completes drive southwards.
Tunnelling remaining ● Pfons-Brenner Lot: TBMs and Drill & Blast main tube excavations ● Cross passages at different locations. ● Final lining works at different locations.
REFERENCES 1 BBT-SE (
https://bbt-se.com)
2 Reynolds, P. (2011) ‘Brenner Push’. T&TI, Oct 2011 3 Insam, R., Nemec, C., Unteregger, D., Schwarz, D., Marini, D., Venditti, G., Voza, A., Marottoli, A & Rehblock, M. (2022) ‘The Brenner Base Tunnel - an overview of the status of the project’. World Tunnel Congress 2022 (WTC 2022), Copenhagen, Denmark
4 Marini, D., Venditti, G., Unteregger, D., Insam, R. & Marazzo, R. (2024) ‘The Brenner Base Tunnel: An overview of the excavation types used in the project’. WTC 2024, Shenzhen, China
5 Marini, D., Lussu, A. & Venditti, G. (2024) ‘The mechanised excavation of the exploratory tunnel of the Brenner Base Tunnel: The major challenges’. WTC 2024
6 Insam, R., Waldhor, C., Zamberlan, I., Mair am Tinkhof, K., Hahrnberger, W. & Reith, M. (2025) ‘Brenner Base Tunnel: Experience to date with single-shield TBM excavation of the main tubes in the construction of Lot H41 Sill Gorge-Pfons’. WTC 2025, Stockholm, Sweden 7 Paduano, C. & Schierl, H. (2023) ‘Observations and Modelling of rock mass discontinuities’. T&TI, March 2023
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