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.

Ascom Security Solutions has been awarded the contract to deliver the operational communication system for the Gotthard base tunnel. The contract volume amounts to CHF3.6 million. 31/08.

The Ministry of development opened to commercial service a tunnel for suburban trains in Madrid on 10th July, 2008. This is the second south-north tunnel between Atocha and Chamartin main railway stations, while tenders have been invited to build a third one, which will be used by high speed trains. 30/08.

The Swiss authorities are to test a new anti-fire system at the Gotthard tunnel, the scene of a horrific blaze in 2001 in which 11 people died. Designed by innovative Swiss software firm ECTN, the device detects heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) that are overheating. It is said to be the first of its kind in Europe. 30/08.

Bombela’s tunnel boring machine hit a “transition phase” of soft soil and “decomposed granite” that led to a subsidence that left an 84 sq m hole in Oxford road in northern Johannesburg. The immediate damage caused by the sinkhole has been repaired and the integrity of the Gautrain tunnels "has been maintained". 29/08.

Global concern for improving tunnel safety and security has lead to the 3rd International Symposium on Tunnel Safety and Security (ISTSS) held in Stockholm in March this year. The programme of ISTSS 2008 was divided into a number of sessions covering the following themes: case studies, design studies and criteria, active and passive fire protection, security in tunnels, incident management, threat and risk assessment, threat deterrence, and emerging research. The pdf versions of the presentations are available at: www.sp.se/en/units/fire/news/ISTSS2008/symposium_program/Sidor/default.aspx. The 4th ISTSS will be held 17th-19th March, 2010 in Frankfurt, Germany. Visit www.sp.se/en/units/fire/news/ISTSS2010/Sidor/default.aspx. More information, including call for papers, will be available after the summer. 28/08.

Keymile's multi-service access node UMUX is one of the key elements in the axle counter application in the new Gotthard base tunnel and makes a vital contribution to line and train safety. 28/08.

The newly-opened Sentvid tunnel that leads towards the Gorenjsko region was closed because of falling fire protection coating just six hours after being opened to traffic, as part of a key 5.5 km section of the A2 north-south motorway through Slovenia. 28/08.

Two years after the collapse of a Big Dig tunnel ceiling in Boston, some experts say there are still lessons to be learned from the failure. Engineers need to understand basic failure modes of polymers such as creep resistance and rely less on supplier data sheets, says Myer Ezrin, a failure analysis expert and fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers. 27/08.

The geotechnical Visualisation Tool (gVT) is being used to chart the route for the Devil’s Slide tunnel excavation. Engineers use the tool to watch rock layers as they separate and observe the orientation of the fractures. The new system is a precious tool to safely excavate the twin roadway tunnel beneath a landslide-prone stretch of California's Highway 1. 27/08.

VICATS (acronym for Video Content Analysis for Automated Traffic Surveillance) is a project which aims at developing novel real-time and robust video content analysis algorithms for video surveillance and traffic monitoring, with a special focus on tunnel surveillance. This EUR1.5 million R&D project is financially aided by the European Union. It will last 36 months from October 2007 to October 2010. 26/08.

Three important tunnelling projects in Canada, namely the Niagara Falls hydropower tunnel in Ontario, the Capilano-Seymour filtration scheme in British Columbia and one part of the York region sanitary project, also in Ontario, have hit snags recently, showing how difficult it is to predict conditions for these types of projects. 26/08.

Knowing as accurately as possible the characteristics of the subsoil is the first safety guarantee in the excavation of tunnels, according to the Catalonia society of geologists. Extensive geological surveys, but not only, have been carried out to bring the project to a successful end, awaiting the arrival of the TBM in 2009. Read more. 25/08.

Dr Ruediger Giese from the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ) and his team received the “Technology Transfer Award 2008” from the Technology Foundation Brandenburg for the development of a new system for use in tunnel pre-exploration, named ISIS. ISIS is a system for the detection of disturbance zones during tunnel construction. Amberg Technologies and Herrenknecht, the global market leader in TBMs, are among the partners for the market launch of the ISIS system. Read more. 25/08.

Aestuver’s brand products for fire protection in tunnels, particularly for traffic usage, are based on glass-fibre-reinforced boards bonded by aerated cement concrete. These are characterised by resistance to water and frost as well as fire, allowing them to be used where exposed to the ‘elements’ for protection against damp and mildew, road thawing salt, and for high mechanical loading, as well as fire resistance. The boards also have high resistance to abrasion.

Sony installs 2,937 SNC-CS50P IP network cameras across 50 stations and 48 km of track of Barcelona’s Line 9, Europe’s longest metro line. The line is still under construction. The eastern branches are scheduled to open in March 2010 while the airport section will enter in service in end 2012. 24/08.