As of December 2024, the Sill Gorge construction lot, which houses the north portal of the Brenner Base Tunnel, is officially completed.
There are already numerous infrastructures in the area, including the A12 Inntal motorway, the A13 Brenner motorway, the Tirol Panorama Museum, the Untere Sill power station and the existing ÖBB railway line in the Bergisel Tunnel. Not only the Sill stream, but also the narrowness of the gorge made construction a difficult task both above and below ground. The short section of approximately 600 m between the northern end of the BBT and Innsbruck's central station required highly demanding and challenging engineering work: 170 bored piles for the reinforced concrete retaining wall, three 50 m long steel bridges, a 55 m long span bridge, a reinforced concrete pre-tunnel and the north portal structure had to be built. It was necessary to insert 60 drill anchors, 120 m long, into the loose rock of the Viller Berg at the north portal. The portals are clearly visible from the outside and the two north and south ends of the BBT, near Innsbruck and near Fortezza.
The construction has been completed within the planned 52-month period. The total contract amounted to approximately EUR 60 million, and PORR Bau GmbH of Kematen was entrusted with the realisation.
The renaturation process is currently underway, aimed at restoring the construction site to its original state by spring 2025, the citizens of Innsbruck will be able to access the two sections of the hiking trail here again.
The Brenner Base Tunnel project
In May 1994, a railway bypass was opened south of Innsbruck, the so-called Inn Valley tunnel, which is 12.7 km long and connects to the Brenner Base Tunnel. Passenger and freight trains travelling on this route will not only pass through the BBT but also, for several kilometres, through the Inn Valley tunnel. This line, with a total length of 64 km, will in future be the longest underground railway link in the world. The Brenner Base Tunnel is a flat railway tunnel linking two states and is the central part of the new Munich-Verona railway corridor. It stretches between Innsbruck (Austria) and Fortezza (Italy) over a length of 55 km. The Brenner Base Tunnel will offer a viable alternative for freight transport and will open up a new travel dimension for passenger traffic.
Project status
The Brenner Base Tunnel is a tunnel system with a total length of approx. 230 km. To date, 183 km of tunnels have already been excavated. 82 km - train transit tunnels 56 km - exploratory tunnel 45 km - other tunnels
For further information on the project click here, at/16 and it/103 for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://www.bbt-se.com/. 50/24.
