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.

Further technical details are available regarding the Lake Mead intake No. 3 shafts and tunnel project, recently awarded to Vegas Tunnel Constructors, a joint venture of Impregilo and S.A. Healy. The tunnel will primarily be excavated in late Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic bedrock. Of the 4,666 m-long intake tunnel, about 300 metres will be excavated in the Saddle Island Lower Plate (amphibolites, schist, and gneiss) and about 370 metres in the Saddle Island Upper Plate (schist, amphibolites, gneiss, pegmatite, dacite intrusives).

Konsortiet Förbifart Stockholm, a consortium whose partners are Sweco VBB, WSP and Tyréns scooped a SEK154.4 million contract for planning of the Stockholm road bypass. The project connects the E4/E20 to Haeggvik through Kungens Kurva and stretches 21 kilometres, whereof 16 km of tunnel. Visit www.vv.se/templates/page3____4290.aspx, www.sweco.se, www.wspgroup.se and www.tyrens.se 15/08.

The consortium Autopista do Marão, formed by Sacyr Vallehermoso's concession arm Itinere, its Portuguese construction unit Somague Engenharia, MSF Concessões SGPS and MSF Empreiteiros, has beaten AEDM (Auto-Estrada do Marão), a consortium led by Brisa Auto-Estradas de Portugal, in the bidding for the 29.8 km Amarante-Vila Real toll highway concession and the Geraldes junction-Padronelo junction toll-free section in northern Portugal.

Spadina Link Project Managers, a joint venture of Hatch Mott MacDonald, Delcan Corporation and MMM Group, has been awarded a CAD100 million project management services contract for the Spadina subway extension by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) for a period of seven years. With an estimated final cost of CAD2.63 billion, the Spadina subway extension is the largest transit expansion project to be undertaken by the TTC in 40 years.

DHV clinched a EUR1.2 million deal for site supervision during construction of the Trofa railway bypass, including a 1,404 m-long rail tunnel. Visit www.dhv.com 14/08.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) is inviting contractors to tender, deadline 17th April, 2008 for construction of the south tunnel of the Upper Rouge tunnel CSO control project (contract PC-764). The work mostly includes excavation, initial support and final lining of a 61 m-deep 24 m-diameter pumping station work shaft that will be used to launch the TBM; 5,700 linear metres of tunnel, 46 metres below grade with a finished diameter of 9.14 m; six connecting adits/deaeration chambers ranging in finished internal diameter from 2.1 to 9.8 m and in length from 24 to 439 m; and the final lining of the DS-7 work shaft.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority has awarded a USD447 million contract to Impregilo and its US subsidiary S.A. Healy to design and build the so-called third straw to draw water from the Lake Mead reservoir. This is a concrete-lined tunnel 6 m in diameter and approx. 4.8 km long underneath the bed of Lake Mead. Construction should begin before the end of the year and eventually involve a massive tunnel boring machine that will be manufactured in Germany and shipped to the United States. The third straw is slated to go on line by early 2013

Thames Water has appointed CH2M HILL as programme manager for the Thames tideway tunnel scheme that will prevent overflows from London’s sewers entering the Thames. As programme manager, CH2M HILL will help Thames Water to implement the project through all phases, including planning consents, preliminary and final design, construction oversight, stakeholder communication, commissioning and start-up of new facilities. Click here. Visit www.ch2mhill.com

Egis Rail secured a EUR321,000 contract for external control during implementation of the waterproofing in the second bore of the tunnel linking motorways A 50 and A 57 in Toulon. Visit www.egis-rail.fr 13/08.

A joint venture of Konstruktor Inzenjering, Viadukt, Hidroelektra Niskogradnja and Strabag won a HRK352.3 million contract to build section 02 Stobrec-Dugi Rat, lot 1 Stobrec-Grljevac on the Split bypass road. It includes the Perun tunnel (south tube, 222.32 m / north tube, 201.92 m) and Rudine tunnel (south tube, 360.52 m / north tube, 363.23 m). The same joint venture secured a HRK326.2 million contract to construct section 03 Dugi Rat-Omis (2.8 km), lot 4 Omis tunnel-Omis. The contract includes two tunnels: the 1,471 m Omis tunnel and the 226 m Brzet tunnel. Visit www.konstruktor-split.hr, www.hidroelektra-niskogradnja.hr and www.strabag.hr. The work will be supervised by Institut gradevinarstva Hrvatske (IGH). Visit www.igh.hr 13/08.

Cobb County on 11th March awarded a USD305 million contract to J.F. Shea and Traylor to build the 8.8 km 8.2 m OD South Cobb tunnel that will drain about 40% of Cobb. The tunnel will average 76 m in depth as it runs south through bedrock from near the boundary with Douglas County and then east to a treatment plant on the Chattahoochee River near I-20. Four smaller tunnels totalling 1.6 km and 1.8 to 3 m in diameter, are included.

FCC and Alvargonzález received a EUR106.8 million contract to build the Unquera-Pendueles section on the Cantabrian motorway A-8. This 11.8 km section includes the Santiuste tunnel (520 m / 820 m), and the 410 m El Peral cut-and-cover tunnel. Click es/62 for more. Visit www.fcc.es 12/08.

ADIF commissioned the construction of the Sagrera-Trinidad junction section, divided in two contracts, on the Madrid-Barcelona-French border high speed link. The Sagrera contract has been awarded to Corsán-Corviam for EUR67.9 million and a time frame of 19 months. The Sant Andreu contract has been awarded to Acciona Infraestructuras and Copcisa for EUR177.4 million and a time frame of 28 months. The two contracts represent a length of 4.24 km, running fully underground in a cut-and-cover tunnel. Visit www.corsan-corviam.es, www.acciona.es and www.copcisa.com 12/08.

Vifter & Miljø received a NOK5 million contract for delivery of booster fans for the Bjørvika tunnels in Oslo including a 675 m-long immersed tunnel under the harbour and its ramps, 503 m of cut-and-cover tunnels and ramps totalling 1.2 km with a rectangular shape for one, two or three lanes at Sørenga, a new 420 m-long 9.5 m-wide rock tunnel in Mosseveien/Grønlia and 620 m of enlarged existing tunnels and the ramps. Visit www.vifter.no 12/08.

The Blue Water joint venture, consisting of John Holland and Veolia Water, will design, construct, operate and maintain the Sydney desalination plant for 20 years. John Holland's interest in the project is valued at approximately AUD600 million out of a AUD960 million contract. The project includes microtunnelling in residential areas, an intake tunnel between the sea and the screening facility, and an outlet tunnel between the filtration and reverse osmosis facilities and the sea. The intake tunnel is 2,579 m long, 4,150 mm bored diameter and 3,400 mm finished internal diameter. The outlet tunnel is 2,579 m long, 4,100 mm bored diameter and 3,400 mm finished internal diameter. A 14 m TBM burial chamber will be constructed for each tunnel. Two double shield hard rock Herrenknecht TBMs will be used. Launch tunnels for the TBMs will be excavated using a Mitsui S200 roadheader. Click here. Visit www.johnholland.com.au and www.herrenknecht.com 12/08.