The basic construction phase for the Rastatt Tunnel begins with the official ceremony starting work on the 4,270 meter long structure.

On 25th May 2016, in the presence of around 500 guests, Dr. Rüdiger Grube, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche Bahn AG, Alexander Dobrindt, Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure and Winfried Hermann, Minister of Transport of the State of Baden-Württemberg, together started up the tunnel boring machine on the construction site in Ötigheim.

“We are reinforcing the Rhine Valley line as a major North-South axis and making it fit for the passenger and freight traffic of the future”, said Minister Dobrindt. “We are pioneering the BIM pilot project and making the leap to digital planning and construction version 4.0. The construction site will become an intelligent data cloud – with new data quality, close networking between all the players, more transparency and efficiency, and real-time project control. In this way, we minimise risks and build faster, better and more cheaply.”

“With the official start of construction on the Rastatt Tunnel today, we celebrate an important milestone in the Karlsruhe – Basle New and Upgraded Line Project”, said Grube. “We are happy that the residents of Rastatt will in future be spared the noise of passing trains, thanks to our tunnelling under the entire city area.”

The 4,270 meter long Rastatt Tunnel forms the core of line section 1 from Karlsruhe to Rastatt South. The northern portal is in Ötigheim; in the south it resurfaces in Rastatt Niederbühl. In the future, fast passenger and freight trains will pass through the tunnel at speeds of up to 250 kilometres an hour.

(Source: Deutsche Bahn)