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From May 30 to June 1, 2017, the Swiss Tunnelling Society (STS) is staging the 16th Swiss Tunnel Congress. As in previous years the first two days will take place in the Concert Hall at the Lucerne Culture and Convention Centre (KKL). The annual Tunnel Colloquium will be held there on Day 1. Day 2 is the main Congress-day which will be devoted to papers on national Swiss tunnelling and underground construction projects as well as international construction projects – many of which involve Swiss participation. The final day is reserved for an extensive excursion programme, which offers participants the choice of visiting no less than five different construction sites.

Swiss Railways (SBB) plan to provide a 4 m corridor along the entire Gotthard axis by 2020 in order to be able to transport semi-trailer (articulated) trucks with a height of 4 m by rail. The new building of the Bözberg Tunnel in the canton Aargau is the largest individual project with an investment sum of about 350 million Swiss francs. In addition to the existing two-track Bözberg Tunnel, a new two-track tunnel almost 2.7 km long is being built parallel to the existing tunnel. Drill and blast tunnelling started in autumn 2016. Working three shifts, a distance of 168 m has been conventionally excavated in soft ground. Drill and blast tunnelling started in autumn 2016. Working three shifts, a distance of 168 m has been conventionally excavated in soft ground. The main drive of the tunnel is planned from May 2017 with a TBM from Herrenknecht working from the installation area in Schinznach village at the south portal to the north portal in Effingen.

April 18th 2017 was the bid presentation deadline for the largest construction lot for the Brenner Base Tunnel, Pfons–Brenner. The construction lot includes the excavation of the main tunnels between Pfons and Brenner, about 9 km of exploratory tunnel and the emergency stop and the cross-over at St. Jodok. In total, about 50 km of tunnel will be driven. This lot was tendered at a European level according to the MEAT principle and on the basis of Austrian tender law (BVergG 2006, as amended in 2016). Five bids were tendered.

The article in tunnel issue 3/2017 offers interesting insights into the tunnel structures in the Alb foreland (Albvorland Tunnel, Kleine Wendlinger Kurve, goods train link) and the fundamental application of BIM (Building Information Modeling) method for the implementation of the complex tunnel project.

Machine Design In the 1970s rectangular pipe jacking was developed and successfully applied for the first time in a Tokyo underground passage. After several years’ research and development,...

The line being newly built and upgraded between Karlsruhe and Basel is part of the European rail network from Rotterdam to Genoa. Running from the ports of the Netherlands to the Mediterranean, this...

We at the STUVA should like to congratulate Dr.-Ing. Karl Morgen most warmly after he turned 65 in March 2017. Dr. Morgen is CEO of WTM Engineers GmbH and a member of the STUVA board since 2003; since...

The STUVA will invite experts from the fields of construction and operation of underground structures for the industry’s most important get-together to be held in Stuttgart from December 6 to 8, 2017. More than 2400 experts from over 20 countries turned up for the last STUVA Conference in Dortmund in 2015. Around 70 papers (with simultaneous German/English and English/German translation) will be presented over two days in Stuttgart. They will deal with tunnelling and tunnel operation. The separate block of lectures on the afternoon of Day 2 and the excursions on Day 3 will provide a greater insight into the Stuttgart–Ulm mega project.