TEN-T CORE CORRIDOR N. 5 “Scandinavian – Mediterranean (Helsinki-La Valletta)”
The new Italian-Austrian freight and passenger link on the Brenner rail axis.
The project will connect Innsbruck and Fortezza via a base tunnel more than 56 km long (total: 64 km, 9 km of which consisting of the existing Innsbruck bypass), including 32 km in Austria and 24 km in Italy, making it the longest railway tunnel in the world.
It will consist of two 8.1 m-diameter bores placed 70 m apart, connected every 333 m by transverse tunnels that will be used as an escape route in case of emergency in compliance with the highest European safety standards. Excavation work has been ongoing since 2008.
Today Italferr, principal of a grouping with two other companies, has been carrying out the Project Management and Works Supervision service for the construction lot "Isarco River Underpass" within the scope of which about 4.5 km of line tunnels and 1.6 km of tunnels for interconnections with the Fortezza Station will be built. The geological context and the presence of the Eisack River, the Brenner Motorway, National Road No. 12 and the Verona-Brenner railway line required the adoption of highly technical design solutions such as the use of soil freezing for the excavation of the tunnels under the Eisack River. The services include specialist assistance, construction management activities, detailed design verification and safety coordination during execution. Work progress: 90%.
In addition, Italferr is engaged in the construction of the new Fortezza-Ponte Gardena line (1st Lot), as a continuation of the Brenner Base Tunnel, and related interconnections with the existing line.
Italferr, in consortium with other companies, has carried out the Supervision of Works of the construction lot "Periadriatic exploratory tunnel" in Mules, which insists on one of the most important and difficult tectonic lineaments of the entire project; this feat is characterised by a high level of integration between the specialised geology, geotechnics and topography teams.