Excavation of the second tube of Karavanke tunnel between Austria and Slovenia reaches 860 meters on Slovenian side.

Siol.Net publishes the latest pictures and video from the Karavanke tunnel second tube on the Slovenian side. They use Drill & Blast method. They also use mechanical means for digging. They write that the water intrusions, coronavirus pandemic, biggest challenges have been so far. They expect more problems in the coming days with the harder material and more methane gas.

Total length of the Karavanke tunnel second tube is 7,948 meters. The length of the tunnel from Slovenian side to Austrian border is 3,546 m. Therefore there is still 2686 meters to go for the contractor Cengiz (a Turkish tunnel specialist). 

The Austrians are digging from their end and both teams will meet in the middle. Austrians are expected to reach mid point sometime this summer, while it will take longer from the Slovenian site. The Slovenian side will reach the mid-point much later. This is NOT because the Turkish company digs slower. On the contrary, Turks are on schedule and all goes according to plan.

The delay comes because it took Slovenians more than 2 years to conclude the tender.

Slovenian state roads company DARS floated the first tender in 2018. The Turkish company Cengiz was the lowest bidder (Euro 89,3m) but it was cancelled after appeals by two of the losing parties (Slovenian builder Kolektor CPG,  Bosnia's Euro-Asfalt and its Slovenian partner Cestno Podjetje Ptujm). Strange enough these parties chose not to bid in the second tender...

Only after the second tender in the end of 2019, which Cengiz won again, the preparations could start. And in 2020 came the COVID-19 restrictions which limited worker movements etc. But still Cengiz made up the lost time for the pandemic.

While Slovenia has been wasting time with tender process, Austria already started  construction progress in their part of the tunnel. Therefore they will be at the mid-point, earlier than the Slovenian part.

For nice photos and a video of Siol.net

https://siol.net/novice/slovenija/tako-gradijo-karavanski-predor-foto-video-552640