Hochtief awarded Tyrol tunnel job

Hochtief has been awarded a €132 million contract to build the Triebwasserweg Maria Stein tunnel at the Gemeinschaftkraftwerk Inn hydroelectric power station in the Tyrol, Austria.

Hochtief will be responsible for driving a 22.6km long, 6.5m diameter pressure tunnel, which will run underground from the Ovella reservoir to the powerhouse in Prutz. Hochtief will use two hard rock double-shield tunnel boring machines.

The tunnel will be lined with prefabricated concrete lining segments. These reinforced concrete elements will be produced locally in a field factory. The tunnel build is the biggest and most significant of the three construction lots of the hydroelectric power station on the River Inn. The tunnel will be completed in mid-2018.

Wilfried Rammler, general manager of Hochtief Infrastructure, said, "We are happy to have won another large-scale contract in the Austrian market. This underscores our competence in the construction of sustainable energy infrastructure in Europe."

Once operational, the Gemeinschaftkraftwerk Inn hydroelectric power station will generate power for more than 100,000 households.