Chief executive, Ian Tyler
A CONSORTIUM including Britain’s Balfour Beatty has won a £790 million contract for the design, installation and commissioning of rail infrastructure in the world’s longest rail tunnel.
The contract involves equipping two single-track tunnels, each with a length of 57 km (35.4 miles), as well as constructing 11km (6.8 miles) of overground lines for the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland.
This will be the longest railway tunnel in the world and will establish a direct route for high-speed passenger and heavy freight traffic. On completion in 2017, it is expected that the current 3 hour 40 minute travel time from Zurich, Switzerland, to Milan, in Northern Italy, will be reduced by approximately one hour.
Balfour Beatty said the contract was worth 250 million euros (£196 million) to the company. Chief executive, Ian Tyler, said:
"We are delighted that our consortium has been selected to carry out this major long-term project which will utilise a number of Balfour Beatty's multi-disciplinary rail skills. We believe that
our high-speed, high-performance rail experience is second to none and will continue to prove attractive to rail network owners around the world as rail infrastructure investment accelerates."
As well as Balfour Beatty, the consortium comprises Atel Installationstechnik, Alcatel-Lucent and Alpine-Bau Mayreder.
Work on-site is expected to start at the end of 2009, with a construction period of approximately seven years.
Work on the track, the overhead line system and elements of the power supply system will be carried out in a joint venture by Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH, based in Munich—which became part of the Balfour Beatty Group in 2000 when it was acquired from Adtranz—and by Balfour Beatty Rail Projects (BBRP) based in Derby.
