Milestone for one of Europe's most important transportation projects: Tunnelling on the Italian side of the Brenner Base Tunnel has been completed. The last of three Herrenknecht tunnel boring machines reached the end of its construction lot beneath the Italian-Austrian border, coming from the south.

May 12, 2025, Mauls, Italy / Schwanau, Germany The Brenner Base Tunnel is a key project for the sustainable expansion of European rail infrastructure. Under the direction of the Austrian-Italian BBT SE, the world's longest underground railway connection, spanning 64 kilometers, is being built between Innsbruck (Austria) and Franzensfeste (Italy) on the trans-European north-south corridor from Finland to Malta. It is being designed as a particularly high-performance flat railway line, i.e. with very low gradients. Herrenknecht has won orders for a total of eight tunnel boring machines for the construction of the Brenner Base Tunnel.

On the Italian side, the last of three Herrenknecht machines has successfully completed tunneling in the western main tube for construction lot H61 Mauls. Using two Double Shield TBMs with a diameter of 10.65 meters, the miners of the joint venture between Webuild, Ghella, P.A.C. and Cogeis excavated 14.3 kilometers of the two main tubes. They mastered both high-strength rock and challenging geological fault zones. They used another Double Shield TBM with a diameter of 6.8 meters to construct a service and rescue tunnel beneath the main tubes.

On the northern, Austrian side of the Brenner, four machines manufactured in Schwanau are currently driving the main tubes forward. The tunnel builders had already completed the Austrian section of the service and rescue tunnel with a Herrenknecht TBM in 2020.

Photo on the top: BBT SE / Binachi
 

PROJECT DATA BRENNER BASE TUNNEL LOT H61 MAULS

• Client: Galleria di Base del Brennero – Brenner Basistunnel BBT SE
• Contractor: ARGE H61 Mauls 2–3, BTC S.c.a.r.l. (Webuild, Ghella, P.A.C, Cogeis)
• Application: Railway
• Tunnelling length: 3 x 14.3km
• Geology: granite gneiss, granodiorite, mica schist, phyllite

MACHINE DATA

• Machine type: 2 x Double Shield TBM
• Diameter: 10,650mm
• Cutterhead drive power: 4,200kW
• Torque: 23,934kNm
• Machine type: 1 x Double Shield TBM
• Diameter: 6,800mm
• Cutterhead drive power: 2,800kW
• Torque: 8,597kNm

source for all (article, photograph): Herrenknecht pressrelease.