Ministry of Development studying submissions from candidates bidding for 30 km tunnel. These are Bechtel (Spain); jv of Dragados, Tecsa and Nesco; jv of Dumez-GTM, AZVI and Ploder; jv of FCC, ACS, Ferrovial and others; and jv of Hochtief, Lain, Obrascon, Huarte and others. Bids invited by September, 1999. Estimated value Pta 350 billion. March 1999.   Contract awarded March 3rd for twin tunnels with cross passages every 300m. Tunnel in granite and gneiss using four closed face TBMs of either single or double telescopic design. April 2000. GIF has announced contract awards as follows: lot 1 south tube Madrid side to jv of Necso/Dragados/Tecsa, value $216.6 million; lot 2 north tube Madrid side to jv of OHL/Hochtief/Sacyr/Guinovart/Comsa, value $216.5 million; lot 4 north tube Valladolid side to FCC/ACS-Ví­as y Construcciones/Ferrovial-Agromí¡n, value $186.8 million. Lot 3 south tube Valladolid side has yet to be awarded. Construction times vary from 49 months to 57 months, and the exact meeting points in each tube have not yet been finalised. Tunnelling should commence in Spring, 2001 using four shielded TBMs erecting concrete segmental lining with i.d. 8.5 m. Visit www.necso.es and www.gif.es June 2000.   Lot 3 for TBM-driven south tube from Valladolid end awarded to consortium of FCC/ACS-Ví­as y Construcciones/Ferrovial-Agromí¡n value $150 million. Lot 5, value $70 million, for railway construction from portals to Segovia, awarded to Dumez GTM-Azvi. Visit www.gif.es December 2000.   Unity is strength. ACS, Comsa, Dragados, FCC, Ferrovial-Agromí¡n, Hochtief, Necso, OHL, Sacyr, and Tecsa, the ten contractors appointed to drive two 25 km tunnels through granite under the Guadarrama mountain on the high speed railway between Madrid and Valladolid, joined their forces to buy four 8.5 m-diameter TBMs needed for this mammoth job. The coordinated negotiation made it possible to pay Ptas12 billion for the four machines, two Herrenknecht and two Wirth, with a 10% discount, and to cut delivery periods from 19 to 14 months. Both Herrenknecht and Wirth agreed to deliver the TBMs completely mounted, ready for tunnelling. The FCC-Ferrovial-ACS jv will receive two TBMs, one Herrenknecht and one Wirth, to excavate from the northern portals (contracts 3 and 4). The Dragados-Necso-Tecsa jv will use a Wirth TBM to drive the tunnel from one of the south portals (contract 1), while OHL, Sacyr, Comsa and Hochtief will use the second Herrenknecht TBM, from the second south portal (contract 2). The muck will be removed using a conveyor belt. It is expected excavation will start in August, 2002. Engineers estimate the TBMs will bore at an average daily speed of 25 metres or 500 metres a month. Meanwhile, FCC, Ferrovial, and ACS have started the preparatory works from the north portals on the Segovia side. The total cost for both tunnels is €179.6 million. Visit www.herrenknecht.com 50/01.  TBM progress at the Guadarrama tunnels, the greatest civil engineering project ever built in Spain, reached a milestone with a best day of 80 metres. The average daily progress is fourty metres. Benigno Blanco, the infrastructure state secretary, is confident that the 28,377 m-long twin tunnels on the Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid high speed line will be concluded towards the end of 2006 or in early 2007. Tunnelling began in mid-October 2002 in the north drive on the Segovia side. To date, progress has reached 1,800 m on the west tube and 1,500 m on the east tube, both Segovia side. On the south drives (Madrid side), the TBMs drill at the same speed so that about 6 km of tunnel has already been bored out of the 56.7 km. Breakthough is programmed in 30 months. The 9.5 m-diameter tunnels are spaced at a 25 m interval and will be connected by branches every 250 m. Up to 120 tunnellers work in four shifts of six hours. The total investment required is €1.1 billion. Visit www.wirth-europe.com and www.herrenknecht.com 14/03.