Albabstieg Tunnel contract awarded
8 August 2013Strabag subsidiary Ed Züblin has been awarded as lead JV member a EUR 250M (USD 334M) contract by Deutsche Bahn to build the 5.9km Albabstieg Tunnel along the new Wendlingen–Ulm rail line in Germany.
Eight bidding consortia participated in the Europe-wide tender for the construction contract, the company stated earlier this week.
The tunnel, with a north portal in Dornstadt and a south portal in Ulm, will consist of two single-track bores 70m deep connected by eleven crosspassages at 500m intervals.The tunnelling works for both bores will take place simultaneously from two starting points:
downhill from Dornstadt to the south and from an intermediate access tunnel from which both bores will be driven uphill to the north and downhill to the south toward Ulm.
The JV will move around 1.4Mm³ of soil and rock material during construction. The tunnel is being built using drill and blast followed by sprayed concrete techniques before a waterproof membrane is applied followed by a final lining of in-situ concrete, Ed Züblin said.
Construction will last four-and-a-half years.
The start of the tunnelling works is planned for the spring of 2014 and construction will last four and a half years.
