The first of the two tunnel boring machines (TBM) for the H41 Sill Gorge – Pfons construction lot of the Brenner Base Tunnel has formally passed its acceptance test at Herrenknecht in Schwanau, Germany.
The single-shield TBM Lilia has a drilling head diameter of 10.37 metres, a length of around 160 metres and a weight of 1,440 tonnes. After factory acceptance, the machine is dismantled piece by piece and carried to the assembly chamber in Ahrental, south of Innsbruck. Assembly on site in the mountain will begin at the end of January 2023. After its reassembly, the TBM Lilia, will start its journey in spring 2023 from the assembly chamber in Ahrental, on its approximately 8.1 km-long excavation southwards in the east main tunnel, whose lot boundary extends into the municipal area of Navis.
H41 Sill Gorge – Pfons construction represents the longest sections of the main tunnels of the Brenner Base Tunnel on Austrian territory. In 2021, a EUR 651 million contract was awarded to Webuild Group in a joint venture with Implenia for the construction of this section. Webuild participates in the project with its Swiss subsidiary CSC Costruzioni, with an overall stake of 50% in the joint venture.
Lot H41 foresees a section of the Brenner Base Tunnel in Austria and consists in the construction of the railway from Gola del Sill near the city of Innsbruck in the north, to the town of Pfons located further south. It will excavate 22.5 km of main tunnels and 38 transversal underground passages with an overall length of approximately 2.3 km. The tunnels that have been already excavated in the previous lots will also be lined, and also the underground emergency stop at Innsbruck, the access window, the explorative tunnel and other portions of secondary tunnels.
The construction project of Lot H41 started at the beginning of 2021. Currently, the excavation activities of the assembly caverns, present in the emergency stop of Innsbruck and building the partition wall of the interconnection tunnels are being carried out.
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