• Herrenknecht
Stuttgart 21 tenders next set of contracts Nov 2011
Peter Kenyon, TunnelTalk
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn is seeking bids for two of the five tunnel contracts on the new €2 billion high-speed rail arm that extends the €4 billion Stuttgart-21 project south to Ulm.
The 8.8km Bossler tunnel and the 4.8km Steinbuhl tunnelare integral parts of the 60km stretch of high-speed rail between Wendlingen and Ulm through the foothills of the Swabian Alb mountains in Germany's central Baden-Wurttemberg region.
  • Wendlingen-Ulm alignment includes five tunnels

    Wendlingen-Ulm alignment includes five tunnels

  • Alignment of Stuttgart-21

    Alignment of Stuttgart-21

The scope of the €2 billion Stuttgart-21 offshoot project that generally follows the route of the A8 autobahn highway involves five tunnels for a total of 30.4km, 17 railway overpasses, 20 road bridges and an upgrade for the Ulm station.

Speeds of 250km/h will slash journey times

Once the Stuttgart-21 and Wendlingen-Ulm works are complete, journey times on the 250km/h high-speed line between Stuttgart and Ulm will be cut from 54 to 28 minutes. The improvements will also reduce longer-distance national and trans-European journeys on both east-west and north-south routes.
Deutsche Bahn has issued an invitation to tender, by negotiated procedure, in three lots for construction of the Bossler and Steinbuhl tunnels.
The 8.8km Bossler tunnel is split into two lots while the 4.8km Steinbuhl tunnel is offered as a single lot.
Table 1. Scope of the Stuttgart-21 and Wendlingen-Ulm high-speed railway projects in Germany
Stuttgart-21 section Wendlingen-Ulm section
Projected cost € 4 billion €2 billion
Total line length 57km 59.6km
Tunnel/cutting length 33km 30.4km
Tunnels (>500m) 16 5
Overpasses - 17
Bridges 18 20
Construction time 9 years 8 years
Max speed 250km/h 250km/h
Stations 3 1 (conversion)
The three contracts comprise twin-tube single-track tunnels of 4.7m diameter with emergency cross passages at 500m intervals.
Excavation will be through the geological formations of the Brown and Upper Jurassic in which karstification is extensive. Excavation will be further complicated by an alignment that runs under a quarry and protection of bat colonies in the karst caves.
In July, Deutsche Bahn awarded a contract of more than €700 million to Porr of Austria for construction of a new high-speed rail station in Stuttgart, plus excation of the 9.5km Filderstadt tunnel, to connect the city to the airport, and a second tunnel of 6km.
Requests to participate in the invitation to tender for the Bossler and Steinbuhl tunnels should be emailed to einkauf-s21nbs@deutschebahn.com by the closing date of January 11, 2012.
Stuttgart-Ulm Rail Project

           

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