Construction of the 1.3 km Muttnertobel tunnel on the road between Solis and Mutten commencing. Contractor Murer will excavate by drill/blast with support by rockbolts and fibre-reinforced sprayed concrete. Sept 1999.

  Invitation to tender closing 11th February, 2000 for construction of Kirchenwald tunnel, lot 321, 300,000 cu m excavated volume. Contact Tiefbauamt Nidwalden, fax +41 917 439737. Sept 1999.   Joint venture of Murer/Zchokke/Locher/Gasser awarded 2.5 km x 80 sq m single tube from north portal using Atlas Copco 135H to drill 9 m-long umbrella holes in blocky blue limestone and fines to establish drive. Face split into five separate compartments to counter weak conditions. It is expected that the 400 m advance will take up to two years. Drive from south portal has been awarded for a start end-2000, but contract not yet signed. Visit www.murer.ch for details of earlier contracts. April 2000.Construction of 1.5 km-long Kirchenwald twin-tube tunnel underway in two lots: 150 m by Murer/Gasser/Prader/Riva/Zschokke/Locher using steel arches and rockbolts with shotcrete, contract value $20 million for completion 2003; and 1.4 km by Batigroup/Bilfinger & Berger/Frutiger/Garovi-Odermatt using drill/blast in sections ranging from 72 sq m to 116 sq m, contract value $70 million for completion 2007. Engineering consultants are Lombardi SA. Visit www.lombardi.ch October 2000.

  Open tender, deadline 12th November, 1999 for construction of 2.5 km tunnel on N4 highway. Fax +41 418752610. Sept 1999.  Contract awarded to joint venture of Zschokke/Locher/Murer/CSC/Rothpletz & Reinhard who will utilise Robbins Herrenknecht TBM ex Bozberg and Murgenthal. Segmentally lined, single tube for bi-directional traffic will commence boring Summer, 2000. TBM has been cleaned and overhauled and is stored near Murgenthal ready for reassembly at site. Visit www.murer.ch April 2000.

  Tenders called for Uetliberg (4,340 m) and Eggrain (500 m) by Zurich Canton Tiefbauamt. Eggrain will have maximum cross-section of 136 m2 with support by pipe spiles and sprayed concrete. May 1999.Twin 4.4 km three-lane tunnels at 34 m separation with crosscuts every 300 m, every third wide enough for car turning. 3.3 km rock section may utilise 15 m-diameter TBM. 330 m cut-and-cover, 770 m soft ground. Major box section beneath Reppisch river will house crossover and services. Designed by Amberg Consulting Engineers, e-mail amberg@amberg.ch for details. August 1999.   Construction of twin-tube 4.4 km x 145 sq m Uetliberg tunnel in hard sandstone and soft marls as part of Zurich western bypass to commence Spring, 2001. Value $590 million financed 80% by Swiss State and 20% Canton of Zurich. Visit www.amberg.ch October 2000.  Breakthrough of pilot tunnel 20th February, 2003. Reaming to 14.2/14.4 m-diameter commenced using Wirth TBE. Cutters on this model displace radially on a spiral, requiring 8-10 rotations of cutterhead for 20 cm advance. For a full technical description click here. Visit www.wirth-europe.com and www.amberg.ch 19/03.

Sinking of 9 m-diameter subvertical shaft passed 360 m mark at rate of 3 m/day on target to reach 800 m final depth by February, 2000. Completed shaft will have 6,000 t/day capacity using 5MW winder to hoist 80 t skips. August 1999. Open invitation to tender, deadline 27th April, 2001, for lot 360 comprising two 6 km-long tunnels with sections 60 sq m to 140 sq m to be advanced simultaneously in both directions from base of completed 800 m-deep Sedrun shaft, which is accessed by 1 km-long gallery at surface. Contract includes 1.7 km-long multi-function station and other galleries together with crosspassages between main tubes. Start July, 2002 for completion June, 2012. Telephone queries to K Aerni +41 226 0634, or contact via www.electrowatt.ch Notice posted at http://ted.eur-op.eu.int November 2000.   The TRANSCO Gottardo consortium, including Batigroup, Frutiger, Bilfinger + Berger, and Pizzarotti has been awarded contract 360 for SF1.25 billion. Includes two 6.2 km tunnels in Sedrun through very tricky geology and a 800 m-deep shaft. The contractors will enlarge the second shaft from 4 to 7 metres to remove bigger volumes of muck. Mucking-out and the lowering of heavy equipment and construction materials will take place in separate shafts. Work to begin in April, 2002. Visit www.batigroup.ch and www.alptransit.ch 52/01.  Thyssen Schachtbau, in jv with Ostu Stettin and Murray & Roberts RUC of South Africa, reports that it will use a type HG 330-SP Wirth raise borer to drill the 1.8 m-diameter pilot hole, and then ream it to 7 m-diameter using a Wirth VSB V1 shaft borer for the 800 m-deep Sedrun II shaft. During the construction phase of the Gotthard base tunnel, the shaft will be used for ventilation and transport of heavy plant and materials. Boring is expected to be completed by June 2003. Visit www.thyssen-schachtbau.de and www.wirth-europe.com 30/02.

BASF MEYCO Fireshield 1350 fire protection mortar was used on this project   Invitation to tender for first 1.2 km of 16.5 km section of proposed 56.7 km AlpTransit. August 1999.   Invitation to tender for construction of two access tunnels in soft ground, lengths 410 m and 420 m. Sept 1999.Open invitation to tender for lot 554 of Gotthard AlpTransit project involving construction of two running tunnels between Bodio access drift and Faido multi-functional station, deadline 7th December, 2000. Contact Lucerne office, fax +41 917 439737. Visit www.alptransit.ch July 2000.   Award of Faido-Bodio tunnel section to consortium of Zchokke-Locher, Hochtief, CSC and Mayreder. Visit www.alptransit.ch 27/01.   Atlas Copco announced an order for five drill rigs placed by Consorzio TAT (Tunnel AlpTransit), including Zschokke Locher, Alpine Mayreder Bau, Hochtief, CSC, and Impregilo to construct the 16.6 km Bodio and 15.1 km Faido sections of the Gotthard base tunnel. Excavation to start in spring 2002. Atlas Copco will deliver the first part of the order during the first quarter. Visit www.atlascopco.com/rde and www.boomer-rig.com 52/01.   First 380 m from Bodio portal under construction in cut and cover. 1.2 km-long bypass tunnel to main tunnel alignment completed, together with 1.4 km of east tube and 400 m of west tube to provide launch chambers for two 8.83 m-diameter Herrenknecht TBMs which will start in late-2002 on remaining 15 km-long drives to Faido. 27/02.  Difficult ground conditions in Faido-Polmengo are slowing down the Gotthard base tunnel. Progress is reaching only one metre a day instead of the planned 10 metres, or 30 metres a month instead of 300. A few weeks ago, on the site of the Faido multi-functional station, tunnellers encountered a tricky gneissic area consisting of Leventine gneiss and Lukmanier gneiss. The rock yields under the pressure of the 1,400 m mountain cover above, literally transforming the rock into sand. Special support measures have been adopted to install centimetre after centimetre a kind of steel corset at the tunnel crown. The AlpTransit management reckons that a reliable estimate of the cost overruns and delay will not be possible until the summer. To date, progress at Bodio has reached 14% on the east tube and 9% on the west tube. 15/03.

This adit will be 1.784 km long x 60 sq m at 1% downgrade to the Alptransit tunnel horizon where a further 200 m of preparatory work will be required to open out the four running tunnel faces. Ed Ast is undertaking the main development using an Atlas Copco 353E drillrig under moderate blasting restrictions achieving 12-16 m/day advance in Aar Massiv and Erstfeld gneiss. A full face comprises 105-110 holes of depth 3-4 m which are primed with Dyno experimental aluminised slurry using a pump and Nonel detonators. Swellex rockbolts with Dramix steel fibre reinforced shotcrete to support roof and walls. Rock flowed through Pegson crusher located 150 m inside portal and by conveyor to surface and dumps. Ast will complete end-November. Prequalification late-May for 11.4 km main tunnels, but method still under discussion. Elsewhere on the Gotthard base tunnel, the alignment of the section from Uri to the portal is still undecided. Contact info@alptransit.ch for further information. May 2000.Open invitation to tender for lot 252 running tunnels 2 x 11.4 km long to be constructed from base of 1.78 km-long adit currently under drill/blast excavation by Ast-Holzmann using underground crusher with conveyor system to surface for removal of spoil by rail. Cross-passages 40 m-long at 320 m intervals between main tunnels. Deadline 22nd January, 2001. Contact Lucerne office, fax +41 412 260600, e-mail info@alptransit.ch or visit www.alptransit.ch July 2000. Lot 252 for 2 x 11.4 km-long running tunnels towards Sedrun awarded to Strabag/Murer jv using Herrenknecht TBMs. 1.88 km-long x 3.5 m-diameter TBM drive for cable tunnel underway between new transformer cavern and existing Amsteg power station. 27/02.  Herrenknecht has completed the assembly of the first Gripper TBM, machine S-229, for the Gotthard base tunnel north. The 9.58 m-diameter TBM will excavate the eastern tube (11,350 m) of the Gotthard base tunnel between Amsteg and Sedrun. Assembly at the jobsite in Canton Uri will start in mid-March 2003. AGN, the JV consisting of Murer and Strabag, ordered two Herrenknecht hard rock TBMs for this section in February 2002. The second TBM will drive the western tube (11,350 m).Both machines weigh 1,200 tonnes each without the backup system.Representatives of AGN took delivery of the machine on 16th January in the presence of AlpTransit Gotthard AG. The machine is now being disassembled to be transported to Switzerland where pre-assembly is scheduled from March at the tunnel portal prior to full assembly in the start cavern. Excavation will start end of May. The second machine (S-230) will start three months later on the western tube.Herrenknecht has its own subsidiary in Amsteg, in close proximity to AGN's jobsite. The Swiss affiliate works in close cooperation with cutting tool supplier RUAG in Altdorf to achieve the best efficiency on AlpTransit projects, both at the Gotthard and Lötschberg.Four Herrenknecht Gripper TBMs will be in operation at the Gotthard base tunnel, the longest railroad tunnel worldwide with a total length of 2 x 57 km, to excavate a total of 75 km of tunnel. Visit www.herrenknecht.com and www.alptransit.ch 06/03.

BASF MEYCO Fireshield 1350 fire protection mortar was used on this project   Located at Goppenstein, 4.1 km Ferden access adit to be driven through gneisses and schists in the Aare massif. Also Fystertella ventilation tunnel 1.735 km and 365 m shaft to be raise bored at 1.8 m and enlarged to 5 m. This will connect via a ventilation chamber to the twin main tunnels. May 1998.   Tenders invited for 9.4 m-diameter single-track tunnel to be driven in three lengths from Mitholz near Frutigen at north end using TBM or drill/blast. Also TBM drives at south end for 3,073 m Steg tunnel, 4,100 m west bore to Ferden and 2,000 m to Raron. February 1999.   Awards expected in August and October, 1999. May 1999.   Contract awarded to jv of Skanska, Rothpletz & Lienhard, Walo Bertschinger and Ilbau for 2 x 7.5 km-long Mittholz central section to commence March, 2000. November 1999.   Steg 3.073 km access tunnel, 4.117 km TBM drive at 9.4 m-diameter, and 2 km-long drill/blast section awarded to Matrans jv comprising Marti, Walter, Porr and Balfour Beatty in equal quarters. Value $160 million. Mitholz jv reported earlier is actually led by Ilbau, and includes Dumez-GTM together with the three other partners already listed. Contract due to be signed February, 2000 at a value reported as $315 million. November 1999.   Open tendering, deadline 4th September, 2000, for construction of 8.5 km of 62 - 78 sq m running tunnels accessed from the base of the developing Ferden adit. The office handling this project is BLS AlpTransit AG, Aarestrasse 38 B, Postfach 3601 Thun, Switzerland, e-mail info@blsat.ch or visit www.alptransit.ch May 2000. Construction of 1.5 km drill/blast and 9.2 km of 9.4 m-diameter Raron TBM tunnel awarded to Matrans consortium of Marti, Walter, Porr and Balfour Beatty.Visit www.balfourbeatty.com May 2000.Balfour Beatty, reports that contract value of Raron twin 10.7 km tunnels with optional 1 km extensions is $150 million. Client is BLS AlpTransit AG, a subsidiary of SBB Swiss Railways. Visit www.balfourbeatty.com July 2000.   DBT Mineral Processing GmbH reports that it is supplying three crawler-mounted mobile impact roller type SB 1315R crusher plants to process the 1.8 million cu m of solid rock to be excavated in the two 9.5 km south tunnels and the single 7.4 km north tunnel. The crushers will be fed by side-dump loaders at the face and moved up after every blast. Crushed rock of -200 mm sizing will be discharged onto a telescopic belt conveyor installed in the roof of the tunnel. Visit www.dbtminpro.de July 2000. Three Atlas Copco Rocket Boomer XL3 C and two L2 C computerised drillrigs to be delivered to Schweizer Alp Transit Consortium (Satco) for driving main running tunnels north and south from base of Mitholz access adit. Visit www.atlascopco.com July 2000. Award to consortium of Losinger, Prader, Bouygues, Deneriaz, Evequoz, Imboden and Theler of $65 million construction contract for 12 km of tunnel off four faces at Ferden access towards Bern and Valais, starting May, 2001 and completing late-2005. Visit www.blsalptransit.ch 15/01. Award of $170 million drill/blast contract for 7.1 km-long, 9 m-diameter twin-tube section of Lotschberg base tunnel to Bouygues for completion early-2005. Visit www.blsalptransit.ch 28/01. BLS AlpTransit reports that 66 km, or 75% of the total tunnel system, has been driven, mainly by drill/blast using Atlas Copco drillrigs. The Adelrain fork cavern has been excavated on the drive N from Mitholz, and the west tube is now underway with 600 m to go to Frutigen portal. The 9.7 km Mitholz drives S are 67% complete, and the Ferden drives N are around 30 %, while Ferden drives S are virtually finished. At the Raron end, the Herrenknecht TBM drives N are well advanced, with the west tube complete, and the 9.7 km east tube 65% complete. The 4.5 km drill/blast west tube portal drive is 76 % complete. Visit www.blsalptransit.ch 13/03. As of 1st April, 2003, progress at the Lötschberg base tunnel reached 67,493 metres which represents 76.6% of the whole tunnel system. In Frutigen, the first 120 m of the west tube have been excavated. Delicate work is presently under way to drive the east tube under the embankment supporting the existing BLS line.Heading north from Mitholz, there is only 200 m to go before the junction with the Frutigen west tube. Breakthrough is scheduled for mid-May. Heading south, the tricky karstic area in Doldenhorn, 2.7 km in length, has been crossed without too much trouble. The teams are now gearing up towards the last risky geological area at the Lötschberg with two difficult stretches composed of crumbly materials. More than 2.3 km of internal concrete lining has already been installed in the east tube. The spoil management facilities have processed so far 472,000 tonnes of concrete aggregates.In Ferden, the southbound east tube has been completed on 2nd April and teams are now concentrating on the north drives. The internal concrete lining (invert and side walls) is being installed. The Steg/Niedergesteln teams are drilling the cross galleries between the west and east tubes. The concrete lining works are due to begin this month heading for Rarogne. The Ferden-bound Herrenknecht TBM, which started in Rarogne, reached km 6.5 while in the west bore, miners have only 1 km to go. Breakthrough is expected for the summer. Visit www.blsalptransit.ch 16/03.Consortium SATCO tunnelling from Mitholz encountered the Vorlos tunnelling team working from Frutigen on 14th May, 2003. This second breakthrough at the Lötschberg base tunnel took exactly 1,000 calendar days. The tunnel includes a 7,492 m drive, 22 transverse tunnels, a service station and a crossover cavern. The majority of the work (7,024 m) was performed from Mitholz by SATCO using the drill/blast method. Tunnellers working from the north portal in Frutigen drove the first 120 metres of base tunnel in difficult conditions in unconsolidated rock and just 5 m below the BLS rail line which remained in operation while work was in progress. 80% of the total tunnel system has now been driven. Visit www.blsalptransit.ch. 22/03.By end-January, 2004 Satco had excavated almost 23 km of tunnel. They were awarded a further bonus kilometre towards Ferden in the south, and a contract to mine an 800 m-long parallel link close to the Frutigen portal in the north. As a result, Satco will excavate 26 km of tunnel by mid-2004. Meanwhile, concrete lining is underway in the east tube, with 300 m completed in the north drive, and more than 5 km in the south. More from wolfgang.lehner@satco.ch or visit www.blsalptransit.ch 08/04.

Marti Tunnelbau AG from Moosseedorf secured the EUR74.63 million contract,

excluding VAT, for the renewal of tracks and switches in the Loetschberg

tunnel. The contract includes the adaptation of the drainage system.

The duration of the contract from is 02.05.2018 to 31.12.2022. Further

information from

http://www.simap.ch/shabforms/servlet/Search?NOTICE_NR=1019957  (German)

and/or http://www.simap.ch/shabforms/servlet/Search?NOTICE_NR=1019965

(French). Contact BLS AG,  attn Silvio Gasparini, Berna,  tel +32

583272958, email silvio.gasparini@bls.ch. Visit

http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=206061-2018.

Ref.n. 296. 20/18.

BASF MEYCO Fireshield 1350 fire protection mortar was used on this project   Sinking of 800 m-deep Sedrun shaft commenced February, 1999 by jv of Murer, Shaft Sinkers, Locher, Marti, Zschokke and CSC. April 1999.   Tenders invited for 2,646 m-long Faido access tunnel at Mairengo and Amsteg access tunnel. Also Bodio service tunnel 3,162 m-long and 5 m-diameter with two cut-and-cover tunnels at 380 m each. May 1999.   North portal to Sedrun is 21 km; Sedrun to Faido is 19 km; Faido to south portal is 16 km. Sedrun and Faido are construction accesses and will be retained as emergency exits during operation of the railway. At Sedrun there will be two crossovers together with passenger unloading facilities in separately-ventilated galleries to be excavated off-line. Amsteg access is for construction and maintenance purposes only. At this stage it is anticipated that the Sedrun section will be advanced by drill/blast on four faces off the shaft starting February, 2000. Two TBMs will drive from the north portal position towards Sedrun and another two TBMs will drive from the south portal; two TBMs will drive south from Amsteg commencing early-2002 and another TBM will drive from Bodio following on 400 m of preparatory cut-and-cover in blocky alluvial ground and 420 m drill/blast with grouting; two TBMs will drive north from Faido starting end-2002; and the final launch should be from Erstfeld in mid-2003. The south end of the tunnels will be segmentally or concrete lined, and elsewhere shotcrete, waterprooof membrane and in-situ concrete will be standard. The invert will be concreted in-situ throughout. Rock temperature will be 45 degrees C, provoking maximum air temperature of 35 degrees C and humidity of 70 %. Working temperature will be reduced by circulating cooling water to the faces from refrigeration plants on surface. Sedrun already has a 10 MW plant. Project has been divided into five main contract lots. Each of the three central lots will employ 500 men; the south lot 400 men; and the north lot 300 men. See also ch/20 – 22 below. October 1999. Shaft Sinkers of South Africa reported completion of a 800-metre vertical shaft at Sedrun. The contract also included a ventilation shaft and a cavern more than 2,000 metres below the surface. A new phase in the construction of the world's longest railway tunnel is about to begin now with the drill-and-blast of two pairs of tunnels from the cavern in both directions between the middle of next year to the end of 2007. Visit www.alptransit.ch 42/01. Click ch/19 and ch/22 To complete the first stage of AlpTransit and finance the second stage, further investment will be necessary for a total of CHF600 to 800 million. The Swiss Parliament has to approve the new funding next summer. The cost estimate for the first stage of AlpTransit - which includes a first phase with the Lötschberg and Gotthard base tunnels and a second phase with the Mount Ceneri and Zimmerberg tunnels - is CHF14.7 billion. However, unforeseen geological conditions in Faido at the Gotthard base tunnel and the decision to build a twin tube instead of a bidirectional tunnel under Mount Ceneri or safety improvements in the tunnels will cost an extra CHF520 million. Consequently, reserves dropped to CHF249 million as of 31st December, 2002. Another CHF50 million will also be submitted in Parliament for the second stage, which includes the underground crossing of the Uri valley. This stage, programmed for the 2010-2020 decade, will consist in lengthening the Gotthard base tunnel so that the line will run in tunnel on 75 km instead of 57, from Brunnen to Bodio. A final decision will be made in 2007. The Lötschberg base tunnel is 75% complete while the Gotthard base tunnel is 20% complete. Visit www.alptransit.ch and www.blsalptransit.ch 15/03.Following an out-of-court agreement between the project owner AlpTransit Gotthard and Schweizer Bahntechnik Konsortium and once the contract is signed, which is scheduled for spring 2008, Transtec Gotthard will draw up the implementation plans to begin installing railway technology in the Gotthard base tunnel in 2009. On 4th May, 2007, Transtec Gotthard was awarded the contract for railway technology but the decision was attacked in justice by the defeated consortium Schweizer Bahntechnik. Read E-News Weekly 24/2007. The order is worth CHF1.69 billion and construction is scheduled to last until 2016. Zurich-based Atel Installationstechnik leads the Transtec Gotthard consortium, whose other members are Alcatel-Lucent, Thales Rail Signalling Solutions (TRSS), Alpine Mayreder and Balfour Beatty Rail. Visit www.transtecgotthard.ch, www.atel.eu, www.thalesgroup.com, www.alpine.at and www.bbrail.comTranstec Gotthard is also aided by a number of other partners, among which Kummler+Matter, Pöyry Infra and Scheuchzer. Visit www.kuma.ch, www.ewi.ch or www.poyry.com and www.scheuchzer.chOnce the federal office of transport has granted its approval, work on installation of the railway technology systems is scheduled to begin at the south portal in Biasca around the beginning of 2009, and at the north portal in Erstfeld around 2012. The construction period is around seven years. The Gotthard base tunnel is scheduled to go into commercial operation in 2017. The work covers installation of railway technology facilities in the two one-track tunnel tubes, each 57 kilometres in length, and the outdoor routes connecting the existing rail network. The railway technology to be installed includes the track, power supply and cabling, lighting and power installations, overhead lines and switching stations, tunnel instrumentation and controls, data networks and operational communications, tunnel communication systems and signal boxes, process control systems and a new signalling and train security system.Before these systems can be installed in the tunnel, extensive systems for logistics and transport such as construction railway, workshops, storage depots, accommodation, ventilation and air conditioning systems, power supply, radio and telephone systems need to temporarily set up. Visit www.alptransit.ch 03/08.Pöyry has been awarded an engineering services contract in the Gotthard base tunnel project by the Swiss Transtec Gotthard consortium. The assignment comprises support of the operational management, technical coordination and planning integration. The value of the contract is about EUR10 million. AlpTransit Gotthard as owner awarded the Transtec Gotthard consortium the work contract for the installation of the railway technology in the Gotthard base tunnel. Transtec Gotthard comprises Atel Installationstechnik, Alcatel-Lucent Schweiz, TRSS Thales Rail Signalling Solutions, Alpine Bau and Balfour Beatty Rail. The consortium's contract is for implementation planning and installation of the railway installations and involves equipping the two single-track tunnels, each with a length of 57 km, as well as the overground lines to the north and south with a total length of around 11 km. Installation of the railway systems through the south entrance will start in the second half of 2009, and through the north entrance at Erstfeld at the end of 2011. Commercial operation of the world's longest railway tunnel with scheduled train services is planned to start at the end of 2017. Visit www.poyry.com, www.transtec-gotthard.ch and www.neat.ch/pages/e/index.php 20/08.

Twin tunnel to be bored by Marti jv using Herrenknecht ex Pomy. May 1998.  North tube breakthrough by Herrenknecht 11.7 m-diameter TBM achieved May, 1999 by contractors GTG, a jv of Marti, CSC, Comina and Pierre Freiburghaus. TBM dismantled and taken back to start for south tube to complete by October, 2000. Maximum daily advance 21.6 m with average of 13 m. Steelcord muck conveyor from TBM to portal with 400 m cassette. Korfmann fans and Grindex Matador pumps. Segment prefabrication at site produces six 1.8 m rings/day using forms supplied by Bernold and CBE. 28 cm-thick ring comprises 5 x 9 t segments plus key. Sept 1999.