Austria and Italy Sign Agreement on Brenner Base TunnelHubert Gorbach, the Austrian deputy chancellor and minister for transport, innovation and technology, and Pietro Lunardi, Italy's minister for infrastructure and transport, signed on 30th April at the Italian Embassy in Vienna an agreement on the construction of the Brenner base tunnel through the Alps between the two countries. The treaty maps out the costs and planning and construction work to be finished for the remainder of the project. The tunnel spans 56 km. It is a twin bore, 8.1 m in diameter, with cross passages between both tubes every 336 m. It is the backbone of Europe's corridor 1 Berlin-Palermo. It is expected to cost EUR4.5 billion, 20% of which will be financed by the EU. EU transport and energy chief Loyola de Palacio greeted the agreement as an "important date in the development of one of the key priority projects of the Trans-European transport Network to cross the Alps". The deal paves the way for the final phase of the tunnel, designed to ease congestion and increase freight capacity on this key Alpine crossing between Innsbruck and Fortezza. The tunnel will be completed by 2015. This tunnel project is one of the 30 priority transport projects of the Trans-European transport Network, also known as TENs. The list of schemes includes priority cross-border rail, road and sea projects all over Europe and the aim is to develop them all by 2020 at an estimated cost of EUR600 billion. 20/04. Hubert Gorbach (seated left) and Pietro Lunardi (seated right) signing the treaty on the Brenner base tunnel