German HSR breakthroughsThe 6,466 m-long western bore of the Bibra tunnel on the Erfurt-Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway broke through on 03.03.2010. It was excavated using drill/blast techniques by JV Marti Tunnelbau AG, Marti GmbH, and Johann Bunte Construction Company GmbH & Co.KG. At the same time, the second tube of the 6,970 m-long Finne tunnel was completed by the JV of Wayss & Freytag, Porr and Max Boegl using a TBM. The first breakthrough in Finne tunnel was on 30.09.2009.The 123 km-long railway, set to open in 2015, forms part of the 500 km Nuernberg-Berlin Corridor 8, which is being developed at a cost of EUR10 billion under Germany's post-reunification investment plan. The route includes the 2 km-long Osterberg tunnel. Visit tunnelbuilder archive de/51 for history of this major project, and www.vde8.de, www.wf-ingbau.de and www.martiag.ch. 11/10.