On 25.05.016 the Rastatt tunnel construction the officially started. The tunnel is on the Karlsruhe-Rastatt-South section 1 of the 182km Karlsruhe - Basle main line. The 4270 m Rastatt tunnel will run from the northern portal at Oetigheim  down to the south at Rastatt-Niederbuehl.

The Rastatt tunnel, whose alignment is in groundwater and loose rock layers, will be driven by two Herrenknecht Mixshield TBMs (90 m length,  weight 1750 t, diameter 10.97 m) and lined with 30.000 segments (7 segments for each ring).

The first TBM has been assembled in the starting shaft in Oetigheim this is for the  excavation of the east tunnel. Its estimated advancing rate should be in the region of 13 m/day. In approximately 4 months a second TBM will start working on the west tunnel.

Tunnelling works will be completed by the first quarter 2018. The tunnel will be fitted out with tracks, control and safety systems from 2018 to 2021. Commissioning is planned for 2022 after the test phase has finished.

The Rastatt tunnel will be the first DB Network project  and the largest of four national pilot projects to use and test the BMVI-funded Building Information Modelling (BIM) system, a new digital working method. With BIM, planning, flow and use of the tunnel are simulated in three dimensions.

The 11.6 billion Euro overall project involves rebuilding the double-track railway as a four-track main line in order to create additional capacity, for freight and long-distance passenger services. Sections 2 to 6 (Rastatt South - Offenburg) and Section 9.1 (Schliengen - Eimeldingen) are already in operation.

Due to a decision by the Project Advisory Board and the Bundestag regarding the additional costs for the improving of section 7 (Offenburg - Herbolzheim) the plans for this section are being re-drafted. Section 8 (Herbolzheim - Huegelsheim) is going through the planning approval phase. For Section 9 (Haltingen - Weil am Rhein) some elements have already been agreed, such as subways and noise barriers. Click de/54 for tunnelbuilder archive. Visit http://www.karlsruhe-basel.de/. 22/16.