Brenner Base Tunnel: A visit to the mega construction site in Innsbruck – Ebersberg
The longest underground railway connection in the world is being built deep below the Brenner Pass. While the district of Ebersberg is still arguing about the route to the Brenner Pass, work in Italy and Austria is already well advanced. A visit to the mega construction site.
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Andreas Junkmann, Ebersberg/Innsbruck
In view of the other dimensions, this small detail is hardly noticeable, but it is of great importance for the workers: on one of the many access roads that lead down into the darkness, the figure of Saint Barbara stands like on a small altar. She is the patron saint of miners. The typical symbols for working underground, mallet and iron, hang above it. This tradition is also maintained on the construction site north of Innsbruck, otherwise there is little normality here – because a project of superlatives is being created. The Brenner Base Tunnel is to become the heart of a rail transport route from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. Mainly for freight traffic, but passenger trains also pass through here. In the future, all these trains will also have to cross the southern district of Ebersberg. But while people in the region are still arguing about the exact course of the route, work in Italy and Austria is already well advanced.