AUSTRIA: The first bore of the 27·3 km Semmering Base Tunnel was holed through on September 11.
The tunnel is being built from five locations, with 14 simultaneous drives of which 12 have been completed. Construction started in 2014, and the second bore is expected to be completed in Q1 2025.
The Semmering Base Tunnel is one of the central pieces of the wider Südstrecke modernisation programme, along with the construction of the Koralmbahn fast line between Graz and Klagenfurt. The project will reduce Wien to Klagenfurt journey times from 3 h 55 min to 2 h 40 min.
