STUVA Prize 2007 Awarded to Betuwe LineThe yardstick for awarding this year's STUVA Prize '07 was once again set very high. The Dutch Betuwe line project was able to finish ahead of the field in spite of some very strong competition and was unanimously selected by the Jury as the winner of this year's prize.The Betuwe line is a goods train link from the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands to the Ruhr in Germany constructed in tricky soft ground with an extremely high water level. On the Dutch side it runs from the Port of Rotterdam via Arnhem to Zevenaar close to the Dutch-German border. The 160 km route on Dutch soil is split up into a 105 km new section and a 45 km-long upgraded one. The project involves five tunnels: Botlek, Sophia, Giessen, Pannerdensch Canal and Zevenaar with a total length of 18 km thus accounting for 17% of the total route. A large number of innovations were employed during the construction of the Betuwe line. Particularly worth mentioning are the construction methods which were used for building the Botlek, Sophia and Pannerdensch Canal tunnels. These three tunnels were bored by mechanical means thus representing a premiere for the Netherlands for railway construction at the time. An earth pressure balance shield was employed for the Botlek tunnel. The Sophia and Pannerdensch tunnels were driven using a shield with a fluid-supported face (slurry or hydroshield). All three tunnels were bored by Herrenknecht machines. Martin Ziegler (left), chairman of the board of STUVA, and Patrick Buck, ProRail's director for the realization of the Betuwe line, during the STUVA prize remittance The Betuwe line was ceremoniously opened by Queen Beatrix on 16th June, 2007, at Barendrecht to the south of Rotterdam. Click here. The first scheduled goods train used the route on 18th June, 2007. Since then the route has represented a new, important European link between the Netherlands and Germany in keeping with this year's STUVA conference motto "Tunnel verbinden - Connections by Tunnels". Visit www.betuweroute.nlOn the German side it is planned to upgrade the currently existing section from Zevenaar via Emmerich on the Lower Rhine to the Ruhr and develop it with three tracks in the medium term as an extension of the Betuwe line.This year's STUVA congress and exhibition beat all records, with 1,300 registered participants, 130 exhibitors covering a total floor space of 2,000 square metres, and about 250 non-registered visitors. Click nl/11 & nl/19. 49/07.