Deutsche Bahn AG awarded the contract to build two railroad tunnels for nearly 122 million euros to the ALPINE Construction Group, the subsidiary Austrian company of FCC.

Baumleite Tunnel

It will take approximately 3 years to build the 1,317 meter Baumleite Tunnel south of Erfurt between the communities of Theuern, Truckental and Grümpen. A 40-meter escape shaft will serve as an emergency exit. The contract value amounts to nearly 44 million euros. Construction is expected to be completed in August 2012. The tunnel is part of the new 107-km line between Ebensfeld and Erfurt comprising the upgraded Nuremberg-Berlin line. The entire project is expected to be completed in 2017.
Beton und Monierbau GmbH (BeMo), a fully-owned subsidiary of ALPINE Bau GmbH, will be responsible for the tunnel construction.

New Kaiser Wilhelm Tunnel

Constructed in 1877, the double-track Kaiser Wilhelm Tunnel needs to be adapted to meet new safety requirements. A joint venture comprised of ALPINE Untertagebau GmbH, ALPINE Bau Deutschland AG and FCC Construccion S.A. will build a new single-track tunnel tube for this purpose.

The tunnel is located on railroad line 3100 between Koblenz and Perl. The tunnel will be 4,200 meters long. The new tunnel will be driven with a tunnel drill having a diameter of 10.12 m with single-shell tubbing. The old tunnel tube will be rehabilitated and connected to the new tube by means of eight connecting structures having a length of 15 meters each. Construction of a second tunnel tube will keep the line open to traffic in the future.

The contract value is approximately 80 million euros. Construction is scheduled to be completed in November 2011.