Breakthrough of Katzenberg Tunnel on Main North-South European LineEngineers celebrated the breakthrough on 30th October, 2007 of the twin Katzenberg rail tunnel on the Basel-Karlsruhe line that is to ease congestion on a main north-south European rail route. A VIP welcoming party was attended at the northern ends of the two tubes by Rudolf Koeberle, state secretary at the Ministry of Interior of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the two TBM godmothers, Marion Caspers-Merk and Inken Oettinger, Werner Klingberg, a Deutsche Bahn official for the southwest region and the Land of Baden-Wuerttemberg, and Wolfgang Feldwisch, manager for major projects at Deutsche Bahn. The builders are Zueblin, Wayss & Freytag, Marti Tunnelbau and Jaeger. Visit www.katzenbergtunnel.info High speed trains shuttling freight across the Alps from Italy to the industrial heartlands of Germany and the Benelux nations will make the journey half an hour faster when the tunnel goes into service in 2012. Currently trains have a speed limit of 70 km per hour on a tortuous section of track where the Rhine river gorge narrows, downstream from the Swiss city of Basel. The twin-tube tunnel, under a vine-covered hill between the small towns of Bad Bellingen and Efringen-Kirchen, will allow trains to move as fast as 250 kilometres per hour.Construction of one of the most modern railway tunnels of Europe commenced in August 2003. The tunnel is 9,385 m long, whereof 8,984 metres built by TBM and 286 m and 115 m built by the cut-and-cover method at the north and south respectively. Mechanised tunnelling of the east bore commenced in June 2005. The west tube began in October 2005. Two Herrenknecht 11.16 m-diameter EPB tunnel boring machines working side by side began chewing through the rock from the south 27 months ago in summer 2005. Each machine is 220 m long, weighs 2,500 tonnes and delivered a drive power of 3,200 kW. Visit www.herrenknecht.com Members of the choir Buggingen sing to celebrate the breakthrough ceremony at the Katzenberg tunnel near Bad Bellingen, Germany Two tunnel conveyor belts designed, built, supplied and installed by Marti Technik hauled away 2.7 million tonnes of spoil. Each belt was 800 m wide and 9,000 m long. Each installation was powered by a single pull drive with no intermediate booster, at 2,130 kW altogether. The capacity was 900 tonnes/hour for each belt. Marti Technik also installed a 30,000 cu m temporary dump site outside the tunnel and external conveyor belts, with capacity for 1,3000 tonnes/hour. Click here. Visit www.martitechnik.ch Main data of the Katzenberg tunnel Inner cross-section 62 sq m (above tracks) Outer cross-section 95 sq m Inner diameter 9.4 m Outer diameter 10.6 m Distance between tracks 26 m Minimum cover 25 m (in Bad Bellingen and Haselbach) Maximum cover 110 m (south of Bad Bellingen) Water pressure maximum 9 bar Number of cross-passages 19 Distance between each cross-passage 500 m Depth and inner diameter of ventilation shafts 65 m / 6 m Number of precast concrete segments 63,000 The link is the biggest rail tunnel currently under construction in Germany and a key component of the new Karlsruhe-Basel high speed link. It is costing rail operator Deutsche Bahn EUR510 million. The tunnel alone will cost EUR250 million. The next step is to line the bore with concrete and lay tracks, which will be followed by the installation of the E&M equipment. After the tunnel opens, Deutsche Bahn may expand the route from two to four tracks. Click de/54. Read E-News Weekly 50/2005. Visit www.db.de/karlsruhe-basel 45/07. Marti Technik's twin external conveyor belts to the temporary, covered dump site at Katzenberg