he Brenner Base Tunnel will extend over a distance of approximately 55 km between Fortezza (Bolzano, Italy) and Innsbruck (Austria) stations, where it will connect underground to the existing bypass railway, itself also in tunnel, giving a total length of 64 km. Once completed, the Brenner Base Tunnel will be the longest underground rail link in the world. The project is included in the overall upgrade of the Verona – Munich axis and is part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), nicknamed “Europe’s metro line”, and more specifically, a part of the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor. The “Mules 2-3” construction lot is the largest in the entire project area and extends from the northern border of the other Italian lot, called “Underpass Isarco”, to the Italian-Austrian border. This section will entail construction of the two mainline tunnels, an exploratory tunnel, cross passages and the emergency stop (one of the three located along the entire route and the only one in the Italian section) with the related access tunnel.

Benefits of the project:

1. Cuts travel time, compared to the existing railway link, by 55 minutes for passengers' transport and 1 hour and 10 minutes for freight transport.

2. Modal shift from road to rail for the NorthSouth links between Austria and Italy.

3. Reduces CO2 emissions.

Origin Ghella.