Open invitation to tender, deadline 10.11.2009, for PM designer for security refurbishment in 1.14 km-long Mosi tunnel on A4, near Brunnen. For offers contact OFROU, attn: Angebot 080208, EP Mositunnel Projektverfasser BSA, Zofingue, tel +41 6274575-11, fax -90, e-mail beschaffung.zofingen@astra.admin.ch. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=268132-2009. 40/09.

Invitation to tender, deadline 5th May, 2008 for construction of the Serrières tunnel on highway N5, consisting of a 830 m pilot tunnel for the north tube, a 728 m pilot tunnel for the south tube, the 830 m main north tunnel and the 773 m main south tunnel. The pilot tunnels will be built by a 3.60 m-diameter TBM. Each of the main tunnels will be constructed simultaneously by a roadheader in three phases (top heading, benches and invert) from west to east. Two other drives will also be started from the east, previously installing umbrella vaults. Each tunnel will accommodate two lanes. The theoretical bored radius is 5.9 m and the inner radius is 5.4 m. The geology is limestone. A technical gallery will also be constructed under the roadway, made of a concrete box within the invert of each tunnel after full concreting of the tunnel ring. Read E-News Weekly 30/2007 & 44/2005. Contact Etat de Neuchâtel, Service des ponts et chaussées, Office de construction de la route nationale 5, Mr Adrien Pizzera, Rue Pourtalès 13, 2001 Neuchâtel. Tel. +41 328896713, fax +41 328898751, e-mail office.constructionN5@ne.ch 15/08. A CHF54.1 million contract has been awarded to a consortium of Infra Tunnel and Spie Batignolles to build the Serrières tunnel. Construction will start this winter and conclude in end-2012. Click ch/60. Visit www.infratunnel.ch, www.spiebatignolles.fr and www.ne.ch/neat/documents/transport/Routes_1830/ConstructionA5_files/A5_Tunnel_de_Serrieres.pdf 41/08.

Open invitation to tender, deadline 14th April, 2008 for project management and construction supervision for the 1,138 m single-tube two-lane bidirectional Galgenbuck tunnel. The contract covers the detailed design, tendering phase, bid evaluation, contract award proposal, execution documents, construction phase, commissioning and final as-built phase. Read E-News Weekly 49/2002. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=58768-2008, OJ S 42, or contact Federal roads office, Winterthur, fax +41 522344790. E-mail winterthur@astra.admin.ch 10/08.Open invitation to tender, deadline 16th June, 2008 for detailed design, preparation of tenders, bid evaluation, contract award proposal, execution documents, construction phase, commissioning and final as-built phase of the safety and operation equipment for the 1,138 m single-tube two-lane bidirectional Galgenbuck tunnel. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=119133-2008, OJ S 87, or contact Federal roads office, Winterthur, fax +41 522344790. E-mail winterthur@astra.admin.ch 20/08.Amberg Engineering AG of Sargans has been awarded Lot 2 contract to construct the Galgenbuck tunnel on N04/06, value EUR116.5 million for completion 2016. Visit www.amberg.ch and http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=333608-2008. 02/09.

Open call for tenders, deadline 20th March, 2008 for draft design of the 3.6 km Eppenberg tunnel, as part of the upgrade and widening from two tracks to four tracks of the Daeniken-Woeschnau rail section on the Bern-Olten-Zurich line. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=27947-2008, OJ S 21, or contact SBB, Olten, fax +41 512296036. E-mail gabriele.pagliari@sbb.ch 06/08.

Impregilo's Swiss subsidiary CSC Impresa Costruzioni has won as part of a consortium a contract worth CHF358 million to build a road tunnel, part of the new orbital highway A9 around the city of Visp. CSC has 36% of the consortium. Its partners are Frutiger, Jaeger Bau and Interalp Bau. The project is for construction of the Eyholz tunnel, consisting of two bores for a length of approximately 3.7 km each. Works will be completed in the second half of 2013. Read E-News Weekly 33/2007. Visit www.csc-sa.ch, www.frutiger.com, www.jaegerbau.com and www.a9-vs.ch 03/08.

The canton of Bern’s road office awarded in March the construction contract of the east branch of the A5 motorway bypass in Biel to a consortium of Walo Bertschinger, Specogna Bau and Porr Technobau und Umwelt. The east branch of Biel’s four-lane motorway bypass stretches for 4.9 km. It goes from the A5/A16 interchange in Champs-de-Boujean in the north and then takes the 2 x 1.5 km Büttenberg tunnel. After an open air section in Orpond, the motorway then runs though the 2 x 2.5 km Längholz tunnel. In Marais-de-Brügg in the south, an interchange will connect the east branch with the T6 semi-motorway to Lyss and Bern and with the future west branch, still under planning. Visit www.walo.ch, www.specogna.ch and www.ptu.atTo bore both tunnels, the consortium has placed an order with Herrenknecht for a 12.24 m-outer diameter EPB TBM. The internal diameter of the tunnel will be 11 m. The TBM is scheduled to commence boring the Büttenberg tunnel on 1st April, 2009. The machine will work from north to south, commencing with the east tube of the tunnel, then continuing with the east tube of the Langhölz tunnel before being brought back to the north portal of the Büttenberg tunnel to excavate the west bores of both tunnels. After approx. 1.5 km on its way through the Langhölz tunnel, the TBM will work in closed mode because of changing geology. The spoil will be extracted by a conveyor belt. The supplier has not been chosen yet. Visit www.herrenknecht.comPreliminary work is ongoing since July 2007 to install the worksite, build the eight portals using the cut-and-cover method and install 41 horizontal piles, 1.40 m in diameter, leaning on diaphragm walls to shape a sort of crossing bridge under the Biel-Olten line and allow the TBM to cross the line under a 4 m cover without cutting traffic. The first three test piles will be constructed in December. The east branch of Biel’s A5 motorway bypass will open in 2015. Read E-News Weekly 41/2007 & 4/2006. Visit www.a5-biel-bienne.ch 43/07.

  Open invitation to tender, deadline 19th October, 2004 for lot 151 of the Erstfeld tunnel including in particular the construction of two cut-and-cover tunnels (600 m and 557 m); two parallel single-track tunnels, 7.2 km in length each with an excavated cross section of 69 sq m and 23 cross passages; a connecting structure, excavated cross section of 200 sq m; and two bypass tunnels (635 and 660 m) with an excavated cross section 67-72 sq m and five cross passages. Visit http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=091198-2004, OJ S 109, or contact AlpTransit Gotthard, Lucern, fax +41 562009507. Visit www.alptransit.ch 25/04.Contract 151 in Erstfeld has been awarded by AlpTransit Saint Gotthard to consortium AGN, comprising of Murer and Strabag. This CHF430 million contract is the last major tunnelling assignment for the Gotthard base tunnel. It mainly comprises a 7.8 km twin tunnel, 23 cross passages and an underground junction for the future construction of the so-called "Berg lang geschlossen" line. Consortium AGN is already building contract 252 in Amsteg. Visit www.alptransit.ch, www.murer.ch, www.strabag.at and www.agn-amsteg.ch 35/05.AlpTransit has confirmed the award to consortium AGN (Strabag and Murer) of the Erstfeld section (contract 151), comprising a 7.8 km twin tunnel, 23 cross passages and an underground junction. The contract, worth CHF413 million, is the last major tunnelling contract for the Gotthard base tunnel. Construction group Marti Tunnelbau appealed against the award to AGN in August 2005, whose low bid was just 0.6% less than that of Marti. Read E-News Weekly 9/2006. If no new appeal is attempted, work could commence next fall. Visit www.alptransit.ch, www.strabag.at and www.murer.chOn 1st May, 2006 progress at the Gotthard base tunnel reached 92.3 km (60.1%) of the total of 153.5 km of tunnels, galleries and cross passages. The total length driven in April 2006 was 1,494 metres. Entry in service of the Gotthard base tunnel is programmed for 2016. 20/06.Lot 151, comprising a 7.8 km twin tunnel, has been awarded for the third time to a consortium of Murer and Strabag, after independent experts estimated their offer was the most economically advantageous. The board of AlpTransit Gotthard has confirmed on 9th February its previous decisions. Work on the Erstfeld section will commence in April. Defeated consortium Marti appealed twice against the award and the federal appeal court for public works twice judged the appeals receivable and asked AlpTransit to reexamine its decision. Read E-News Weekly 38/2006 & 9/2006. Visit www.alptransit.ch, www.murer.ch and www.strabag.at 08/07.

Open invitation to tender, deadline 05/10/2023, for the replacement of lighting in emergency exits, of an OLE control unit, LED modules and lighting in the Airolo maintenance center, for the Gotthard motorway tunnel on the N2. For tender documents please click here (German), here (French) and here (Italian), where tenders must be sent. Duration of the contract will be 35 month. Contact USTRA, Zofingen, tel +41 627457511, fax +41 627457590, email beschaffung.zofingen@astra.admin.ch. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=524224-2023.  Ref.n. MP-190045. 37/23. 

A 6.7 km cross-border railway is under planning between Stabio, in the Tessin Canton and Arcisate in Lombardy. The link will connect directly Lugano to the Milan Malpensa Airport in 50 minutes. On the Italian side, a 985 m tunnel is planned prior to the Gaggiolo station. A bi-national coordination committee has been set up between the Tessin Canton, Lombardy, the Swiss federal railways and Rete Ferroviaria Italiana. Work may start end of 2005. Visit www.rfi.it and www.rail.ch 15/02.As part of the preliminary studies on the alignment of the new Gotthard railway link through the Alps, south of Lugano, the feasibility and opportunity analysis of the four alternatives has been commissioned to the consortium RBM (Rapp Trans, Basler & Hofmann and Ingegneria Maggia), that gathers ten companies altogether. The study, awarded by the federal office of transport (OFT) on behalf of the federal department of the environment, transport, energy and communications (DETEC), will analyse the feasibility and opportunity of the four alternatives along the Lugano-Chiasso corridor, three of which plan to cross Lake Lugano under water. A steering group, comprising officials of the OFT, the canton of Ticino and the Swiss railways, will be in charge of following up the choice of the path until the Italian border. The results will be available in end 2008 or early 2009. Visit www.rapp.ch/trans.html, www.bhz.ch and www.im-maggia.chItaly is studying also three options (Cadenazzo-Laveno, Lugano-Laveno, Lugano-Luino) for the new section along the Cadenazzo-Luino-Laveno corridor (the so-called “Gronda Ovest”) and has already released the first results. The Italian experts are currently examining the opportunity of the alternatives. These studies will also be carried out in coordination with Swirterland. Read E-News Weekly 22/2006. 09/08.

  Single tube, 807 m-long, 11 m-wide, Collombey tunnel under drill/blast excavation on 65 sq m full face using 4.5 m-deep rounds by Züblin-Schlittler-Murer-Etra SA. Tunnel climbs at a 7-12% grade with a side slope of 5-7% describing a curve. 30 m to breakthrough. Full-length pilot tunnel driven by Wirth 3.5 m-diameter TBM, together with 400 m-long escape tunnel running parallel with upper portion of main tunnel. Opening to traffic, including 500 m cut and cover section and bridge scheduled 2003. Tunnel by-passes Monthey to give easy access to mountain resort of Morgins and Val d'Illiez. Visit www.wirth-europe.com 48/01.