Prior information notice of start of award procedures on 27.05.2010 for general safety upgrade and restoration of six road tunnels to RABT 2006 standard, value EUR26.5 million, commencing winter 2010 with Herkulestrasse, value EUR7.54 million. For further information contact Stadt Koeln, tel +49 221221-23647, fax –28715, e-mail zentrales-vergabeamt@stadt-koeln.de. For details of all tunnels involved in this project visit tunnelbuilder archive de/106. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=062973-2010. 10/10...

Vicenzetto Srl of Villa Estense have secured the EUR587,987 contract for test drilling and boring work in Brenner Base tunnel. Contact Johann Hager at BBT SE in Innsbruck, tel +43 5124030, fax +43 5124030-110, e-mail ava@bbt-se.com. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=062301-2010 and www.vicenzetto.it. ..

The CPV consortium, formed by CSC SA (Lugano) and Pizzarotti SA (Bellinzona), signed the EUR43 million contract for the construction of Lot 854 at Vezia, the main lot of Ceneri Base Tunnel, including the south portal, 200 m of cut-and-cover tunnel, as well as drilling, blasting and lining both tunnels along a length of 300 m. Works at Vezia will continue until 2016. Commercial operation of the Ceneri Base Tunnel with scheduled train services is planned to start at the end of 2019. Of the total of 40.19 km of the Ceneri Base Tunnel, at the end of February 2010, 7,673 m, or 19.1%, had been ..

Imtech Austria Anlagentechnik GmbH of Linz have secured the contract for supply, installation and commissioning of ventilation equipment for the tunnel section of the Harter Plateau tramway line. For more, contact Ing. Harald Grogger at Managementservice Linz GmbH in Linz, tel +43 7323400-7982, fax -157982, e-mail h.grogger @ linzag.at. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=059736-2010. 10/10...

Rete Ferroviaria Italiana SpA is inviting companies to prequalify for civil engineering work on railway tunnels in Italy. Further information and documents from Iacomino Raffaele at Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato in Milan, tel +39 02637 148-19, fax –20, e-mail dns-qs@rfi.it to whom requests to participate should be sent. Visit

Pre-feasibility study being undertaken by ILF Consulting Engineers for construction of single track railway line along the Karakorum highway between the end of the existing railway network in the south at Havelian and the border between Pakistan and China near the famous Khunjrab Pass in the north.

Prequalification underway by MTR for tender reference no 703 for West Island Line SHW to SYP tunnels value EUR30 million with a view to selective invitations to tender being issued in 4Q/2008 for contract award in 3Q/2009. Expressions of interest to Malcolm O’Neill, tel 3921 3383, e-mail moneill@mtr.com.hk Visit www.mtr.com.hk/eng/tenders/new_projects.html 45/08.

Todini won the tender for the construction of the second lot of the Capo Boi-Terra Mala section on the bypass to road SS 125 along eartern Sardegna, between the Geremeas and Terra Mala junctions, in the province of Cagliari. The contract is worth EUR107.8 million, whereof EUR66.5 for the tunnels. The section will provide a bypass to the existing route, particularly sinuous and difficult, to join the tourist resorts in the southeast of the island. Further to the notice to proceed from the owner, the company will move to the executive phase of the project (120 days), to be followed by approval from the owner (90 days). Construction will then commence, with targeted end in 2011. The project is financed by the region of Sardegna. Visit www.todini.it

This 6 km section includes mainly seven viaducts and three single tube tunnels: Marapintau (1,290 m), Murtineddu (2,590.5 m) and Is Stellas (212.5 m), with a cross-section of 112-124 square metres. Parallel to the Marapintau and Murtineddu tunnels, emergency galleries will also be built, stretching a total of 3,900 metres. Cross-passages will connect the main tunnels with the parallel emergency bores. The Marapiantau and Murtineddu tunnels will be bored from two drives (one after the other for Marapiantau and simultaneous for Murtineddu). The Is Stellas tunnel will be driven from one side.

The tunnel route crosses predominantly a granitoid bedrock intercepting, at the portals, shallow layers of granite turned to sand as a result to weathering and a colluvial cover. The granitoid bedrock is interrupted by acid, basic dyke deposits.

Excavation will take place mostly by means of hydraulic hammers as well as jumbos and explosives according to the nature of the ground at the face and a TBM for the parallel safety tunnels. For the main tunnels, it is planned to use full-face tunnel driving at each drive, with CAT 330 excavator equipped with Rammer G 90 hydraulic hammer and Krupp HM 2300 Marathon working tool as well as a two-boom Robodrill Pantofore 337 drill rig. The mucking-out will be performed by a CAT 950 wheeled loader and Iveco trucks. Different supports will be adopted according to the type of cross-section. At the portals, forepoles of 101.6 m-diameter 12 m-long steel pipes, steel arches HEA 180 and shotcreting will provide pre-support to the crown. Other pre-support to the crown when excavation has moved forward will consist of 32 mm-diameter 4 m-long grouted steel bars at 30-35-40 cm intervals (cross-section A3). Reinforcement will be achieved with 6 m SuperSwellex bolts (cross-section A1), fibre-reinforced shotcrete (cross-sections A1, A2 and A3) and steel arches HEA 180 (cross-sections A2 and A3). For waterproofing, a PVC liner and geotextile will be installed. The safety tunnels will be built by a 3.9 m-diameter TBM and supported with 2.5 m Swellex bolts, steel arches HEA 100 and shotcrete. Visit www.cat.com, www.robodrill-sa.com and www.swellex.com

Todini proposed the following safety systems: reversible semi-transverse ventilation, lighting and emergency lighting, ventilation of the safety tunnel, pressurization of filter housings, fire fighting devices and VES (Voice Emergency System). 27/08.