Railway infrastructure investments have a vital role in ensuring the recovery of a sustainable economy, considering the fact that they are long-term investments. The projects aiming at extending and constructing new lines are initiated in order to meet mobility demands whose constant growth has led to the development of infrastructure concepts that should not affect the environment, that should determine the reduction of travel times and improve cross-border connections. The answer to all these challenges is given by the underground transport infrastructure. Under the circumstances, more and more European states focus on the construction of tunnels.
A modern society needs mobility and, for this purpose, the European Parliament has approved the extension of the TEN-T network ten years ago, its main objective being the continuous protection of freight and passenger transport services. According to the estimates elaborated by institutions, organisations and companies, the railway freight traffic will increase by 70% until 2025, and until 2015 the population from the urban area will grow by over 10%. “Under the circumstances, tunnels are urgently needed for transport as well as for supply and waste disposal purposes”, declared Roland Leucker, Chief Executive of the Research Association for Underground Transportation Systems (STUVA), within InnoTrans 2012.
It is true that the construction of tunnels faces great challenges regarding the logistics (limited spaces for the necessary materials, the equipments’ application method requires special features, etc.), and the costs and deadlines for the execution of projects represent another problem, the European states begining to launch this new tendency in terms of infrastructure. Modern tunnels, equipped with cutting-edge safety and security technology, will provide a transport system that will considerably reduce the congestion level on the surface transport and, consequently, the level of emissions generated by the transport sector will be reduced.
In Europe, the total length of the commissioned tunnels is 15,000 km, out of which 1,400 km are in Germany, a country which focuses on the development of the underground infrastructure: currently, approximately 140 km are being constructed, and the authorities plan new projects by means of which more than 400 km of tunnels will be built.
Therefore, many Western Europe countries get involved actively in the tunnel execution. Lyon-Turin high-speed line, which is part of the European corridor V (Lisbon-Kiev), supposes the construction of a 57-km underground railway infrastructure under the Alps. Brenner Base Tunnel which provides railway connections between Italy and Austria, is considered the key connection in corridor 1 (on the route Berlin-Palermo). Works will start in 2014, and for the execution of construction works, the project could be financed from the “Connecting Europe Facility”. Meanwhile, the works on Gotthard and Ceneri railway tunnels will provide connections between Italy and Switzerland, through the Alps.
Based on the studies regarding the be-nefits of underground infrastructure constructions, Italian authorities have decided that the extension of the railway network should be done through the construction of underground lines, such as, for instance, Milano-Genoa line, which is mostly built as a tunnel.
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