Austrian and Italian Governments Sign in Vienna Memorandum on Brenner Base TunnelAustrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, Italy's minister for infrastructure Antonio Di Pietro and the Austrian minister for transportation, Werner Faymann, signed on 10th July, 2007 in Vienna the Italo-Austrian memorandum of understanding on the Brenner base tunnel, in presence of the German minister for transportation, Wolfgang Tiefensee, the Austrian minister of foreign affairs, Ursula Plassnik, the European Union representative for transport corridor I Berlin-Palermo, Karel Van Miert, and the three heads of the territories forming the Euroregion involved in the project, i.e. Lorenzo Dellai and Luis Durnwalder, respectively for the Trento autonomous province and South Tyrol in Italy, and Herwig van Staa for Tyrol, Austria.The signature of the memorandum is therefore a milestone along the long way towards the complete achievement of the Brenner dual-track line, foreseen in 2022. With this document, Austria and Italy agreed to each pay the share of the construction costs not covered by European funding. The EU would cover a maximum 30% of the construction costs. By 20th July, European company BBT (Brenner base tunnel) will submit a financing request to Brussels. Anticipated costs, excluding financing charges and inflation, are set at around EUR6 billion. However, the request would not be possible without the involved governments being fully committed to actually bearing their own share of the financial burden. This is why the memorandum is deemed as a substantial step forward towards the future completion of the long-awaited and repeatedly delayed project, precisely because of the heavy construction costs. Van Miert announced that he would submit a positive notice to the EU transport commissioner Jacques Barrot, regarding the European financing of the Brenner tunnel project. The Brenner base tunnel is a 2 x 55 km-long twin bored tunnel. The programme established for the final operation of the infrastructure is for at least 400 trains a day, whereof 320 freight trains. The north portal of the Brenner base tunnel is located shortly before the station entrance in Innsbruck whereas the south portal is situated at the station entrance in Fortezza. The tunnel and the double track railway represent a fundamental piece in the European policy of transferring freight traffic to the railways to help balance the flows between transport means. The tunnel would reduce travel times between Innsbruck, Austria and Bolzano, Italy from two hours to 50 minutes. Click here, here, at/16 & it/103. Read E-News Weekly 28/2006, 20/2006, 13/2005, 11/2004, 20/2003 & 46/2002. Visit www.bbt-ewiv.com or www.bbt-se.com 29/07.