Brenner tunnel, the excavations in Italy finished: where are we with the longest gallery in the world?

How can we forget The closet of the then Minister of Infrastructure, the first Conte government, Danilo Toninelli: «You know how many Italian goods and how many entrepreneurs use the Brenner tunnel with transport mainly on rubber and unfortunately we must undergo sectoral limitations by the Tyrol authorities that strongly damage the Italian economy« , The Minister of Infrastructure interviewed by Telenord in October 2018 said he increased. But the Brenner tunnel had just begun the works. Well we are now completing the Italian part, after almost seven years, a little late compared to the chronology that fixed the date of realization in 2025.

What we are talking about

Let’s start with what it will have to become. That is, a new railway and road section that will allow you to travel the 64 kilometers of tunnels between Fortezza and Innsbruck in 25 minutes (against the current 80), And above all to have the Brenner pass crossing also to the freight trains (which will take 35 of it), with the aim of breaking down the traffic on rubber. On the other hand, these are the infrastructure project more subsidized by Europe. And once made will be the longest underground railway connection in the world.

Maxi-opera

The Brennero basic gallery is a gigantic work that touches 10 billion euros. SortI will extend precisely between Innsbruck (Austria) and Fortress (Italy) and is aimed mainly at transferring the freight traffic of the Brenner pass From the road to the rail. The tunnel will be used by high -speed passenger trains up to 250 kilometers per hour (We had written here). The excavations in Italy have just been completed, communicates the consortium that made them.

Once the excavations have been completed in Italy

It is a group of companies led by Webuild on behalf of BBT SE, controlled for the Italian part by RFI, the controlled of the railway network under the hat of Ferrovie dello Stato, through the company TFB (Brennero railway tunnel). The completion of the excavation of the gallery gallery of the gallery has just been completed through the Boring Machine tunnel (TBM) « Flavia », who dug under the Alps for the Lotto Mules 2-3, reaching the border with Austria. The East Line Gallery had already been completed in 2023, and the works on Lotto Mules 2-3 thus stood at a total progress of more than 95%.

The basic route

The gallery will connect, as mentioned, the cities of Fortezza, about 50 kilometers north of Bolzano, and Innsbruck, in Austria, And it is called « basic » precisely because it is built at the base of the Brenner pass, about 800 meters above sea level. The Lotto Mules 2-3, which represents the main section of the Italian slope of the gallery and also the largest lot, is a key piece and includes the excavation of a complex system of 65 kilometers of tunnels.

The Italy-Austria corridor

It should reconfigure the transport between Italy and Austria, enhancing sustainable mobility in Europe. The work, which is part of the Monaco-Verona railway axis, It also represents the central element of the Scandinavo-Mediterranean corridor of the Ten-T network, of which it is also the most important section, Because it allows you to overcome the natural barrier of the Alps.

The system as a whole

It is a system of tunnels that develops for a total length of 230 kilometers: In addition to the two main galleries (single track), the system includes the exploratory tunnel (dug under the two main rods to provide geological information useful for the works)transversal connection tunnels, emergency stops and four side access tunnels (or windows). The excavation material amounts to 21.5 million cubic meters.