Construction of Diabolo Project in Belgium to Start SoonDiabolo, the northern connection with the Brussels-Mechelen-Antwerp route, is a next step in improving Brussels airport's accessibility by rail. The first step was the Nossegem curve, which has been linking the airport with the eastern Brussels-Leuven-Limburg-Liège route. Thanks to Diabolo, the airport underground station will be directly connected to the major arteries of the Belgian railway system and various European cities like Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt. Public Private PartnershipThe Diabolo project will be implemented through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) set up by Infrabel together with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as legal advisor and La Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild acting as financial advisor. After more than a year's intensive work, the various parties to the PPP for the financing of the Diabolo connection have closed the financial deal on 28th September, 2007. After a long selection and negotiation procedure, the group of investors composed of HSH Nordbank and Babcock & Brown are selected as private financing partners for this project. Visit www.hsh-nordbank.de and www.babcockbrown.comBesides the financial agreement, the building contract has also been awarded. The construction consortium THV Dialink consisting of CEI-De Meyer, MBG, Wayss & Freytag, VINCI Construction Grands Projets and Smet Tunnelling are entrusted with the construction of the Diabolo project. Since the beginning of the procedure, there has been a clear separation in the tender procedure between financing and construction. After separate negotiations with construction candidates and investors based on technical specifications for the project and the submitted bids, the above-mentioned partners have been selected. Click be/19. Visit www.cei-demeyer.be, www.bam.nl, www.mbg.be, www.wf-ingbau.de, www.vinci-construction.com and www.smetboring.beThe Diabolo project will be managed by Northern Diabolo NV, a project company which was set up specifically for this purpose. This private entity is responsible for designing, financing and building the infrastructure. The private partners bear the building risk, in terms of cost and timeframe, and the demand risk (ridership). During 35 years, the company will put the infrastructure at the disposal of Infrabel. After this period, Northern Diabolo NV will transfer property of the infrastructure to Infrabel in 2047. ConstructionThe Diabolo project will extend northward from existing rail tunnels located near the France-Germany line, running south of the airport. The project will lengthen an existing underground station under the terminal and create a widened 300 m-long crossover chamber just to its north. Twin 7.3 m-diameter single-track bored tunnels of 1,070 metres each, 10 metres below ground, will continue northward. One slurry pressure TBM will tunnel through the sands and sandstone. The bores will enter a new cut-and-cover section that will bifurcate after 600 metres to join a new 35 km-long connection being built on the France-Netherlands route.Other railway works include the underground train path of the Brucargo industrial retail park, several underground junctions with the E19 motorway and the construction of the access ramps to the E19's central reservation for the connections along the new Schaerbeek-Mechelen line. That connection will be made through an underground railway branch in Mechelen.In conjunction with the Flemish Region, Northern Diabolo NV is in charge of the railway as well as the roadworks. The complex of motorway entries and exits in Machelen will be completed by the Flemish Region and a viaduct will also be built centrally on the Luchthavenlaan between the bridge over the E19 and the Brucargo site. Infrabel, as a subcontractor of the construction consortium, is building the specific railway technology and will be responsible for the maintenance and rehabilitation works of the entire Diabolo infrastructure for 35 years on behalf of Northern Diabolo NV, who will finance the line.Construction planningThe preliminary and project studies until work permit have been undertaken by TUC Rail. In early July, Infrabel began the preparatory works (laying of railway bedding) for the construction of the new Schaerbeek-Mechelen railway line (Line 25N) along the central median of the E19 highway. The 40 m-wide section is the legacy of an abandoned earlier plan for a wider highway.At the end of October, the construction consortium will start the Diabolo project. At the end of 2010, the construction works for the Diabolo and Line 25N will be completed, after which railway equipment, overhead contact lines and signalling can be installed in 2011. The railway infrastructure of Diabolo and the Schaerbeek-Mechelen line will be tested from the beginning of 2012 onwards. In June 2012, Diabolo will be commissioned, as will the new railway line between Schaerbeek and Mechelen along the central reservation of the E19. Visit www.infrabel.be and www.tucrail.beFinancingThe total investment for the Diabolo project amounts to approximately EUR540 million. Infrabel will contribute EUR250 million more or less with an investment allocation from the government for the implementation of the overground railway line along the central reservation of the E19. The other share, approximately EUR290 million, for the construction of the underground railway line, will be financed by the private partner via Northern Diabolo NV. 41/07.