Why Europe is Building a 57KM Tunnel Through a Mountain

THIS is how you dig a tunnel.

Listen to The World's Best Construction Podcast by The B1M

#construction #architecture #infrastructure

Ripping and/or editing this video is illegal and will result in legal action.

© 2023 The B1M Limited

[muhammadhakim]

love all your content give all of us inspiration and giving us more knowledge regarding architecture, urban planning and engineering. Thank you so much @The B1M

[luca]

As an Italian who has followed this project for a long time, a couple of extra info:
- the french "appear" to be paying less for the big tunnel, but that's because the rail connection between Lion and the tunnel itself is much longer and therefor more expensive
- the No TAV movement started out as a small local protest which had legitimate points: for example, massive viaducts were initially planned which would've ruined the landscape and also they planned to dig trough a portion of mountain full of asbestos. These points were valid and in fact changes to the project were made that ultimately result in a better railway. The problem was that the movement soon attracted violent rioters (no global, antifa and stuff) which clashed very very heavily with the police and disrupted the works (equipment and sites were set ablaze) and the legitimate points degenerated into generic ones such as "it's useless" "it costs too much". The worst of it has passed, but the No TAV movement grew into a national one that kind of opposes all major infrastructure works, often with violent protests.
- the government that was elected in Italy in 2018 contained a party, called 5 Stars, which was against the project and tried doing all kind of bureaucratic mess to stall the project. That's partially why the italian side works are behind schedule. Some positive came out of this too tough: they kept saying the project costed too much as a way to stop it, so the EU called their bluff and said they were gonna pay a larger share. So now the project is cheaper for both Italy and France.
They ultimately failed to stop it because stopping it would violate an international treaty signed in the 90s: the Treaty for the Protection of the Alps mandates that all member states should transfer as much traffic as possible, especially freight, from trucks to rail in order to reduce pollution and vehicle movements. Backing out of international treaties is very hard in the Italian law apparatus, so stopping the project was basically impossible.

[TheBM]

To explain the Brenner Base Tunnel thing: We were careful to say that the Mont Cenis Base Tunnel will be the longest *single* rail tunnel in the world. The Brenner Base Tunnel will become the world's longest underground rail *connection* when it links up with an existing tunnel (built back in 1994). The new tunnel section at Brenner is 55km, while the new tunnel at Mont Cenis will be 57.5km. When it's fully connected to the older tunnels, Brenner overall will be 64km. 
We know our tunnels. We've made like a 100 tunnel videos this year already. Fast becoming the definitive video channel for tunnels.

[McMarc_]

57km is INSANE! I went through a tunnel in Norway that was roughly 25km~ long and it already felt like an eternity underground. What a claustrophobic nightmare, I love it!

[Ismael_jagne]

I’m 15y old African origin boy living in Europe for almost four years now and I respect the hard work of the western people, I mean the way they working everyday so hard just to make everything goes right as plan and the effort absolutely makes me want to learn more and get my degrees and go back to my country and develop there too.

[fyivid]

I was talking to an American friend recently, who in November had traveled by rail through most of Western Europe, and he was in awe at the quality, frequency and the massive network of trains in Europe compared to the States. And Europe is just getting started.

[ce]

220 km/h, 57km through a mountain!, this will be a game changer for travel in the area and make long distance journeys more appealing

[realtimestatic]

To be honest seeing massive and impressive infrastructure projects like this being undertaking just leaves me in awe and I personally think infrastructure in general to be a very exciting and also very beneficial thing long term or those affected

[quentin]

Great project to connect to magnificent countries 🇫🇷❤🇮🇹

[heidirabenau]

Tunnel month is back on! All we need now is another three videos in a row about tunnels! Looks like Fred, Luke and Liam are going to have to come up with a new name for the rail line on the poddy!

[nifalios]

The French high speed train TGV has a line Paris-Lyon and then Paris is connected with London, Brussels and Amsterdam through Eurostar. In Italy there are trains going 300+ km/h from Turin all the way to Rome. This tunnel is amazing because it could connect Italy with high speed trains with Paris, London, Brussels and Amsterdam.
Regarding this opposition and similar ones in other big projects, I really don't get it. You propose a highway, they don't like it. They are against aviation, now they are against underground trains as well? Should we bring horse chariots back so that they are happy?

[PhilipMurphyExtra]

Anything that improves travel is welcome, Thanks for the video B1M.

[Zero-wtxf]

Can't believe how far this channel has come over a short period, it's obviously the voice backed up with awesome visuals and packed with information in a short video.

Forgot to add at the end, I LOVE IT :)

[ameranthine]

Great video, always interesting to know what's going on with construction around the world and how they compare to eachother!

[PB-Trinity]

Fred is the only mountain that never stands in the way of construction...

[pauldarbishire]

As someone who spent most of his working life (40+ years) at the sharp end of tunnel construction, on 4 continents and 50+ countries, I love to see more tunnels being built.
I just wish the B1M would go into a bit more detail so that the general public would get a fuller picture of the complexities of tunnel construction - especially soft and mixed ground tunnelling.
It's a fascinating subject and more people may be drawn into tunnelling if they knew how many facets there are to it.

[vincentchabert]

I'm french living in this area and appreciated your video well done on that subject for the whole world! merci

[giobat]

Thanks for covering this project. Your videos are always fascinating, and the comments helped me know more about the problems faced by the project in my country🇮🇹

[shashank]

This is one of my favorite youtube channels.. I always love watching videos on humanity pushing the frontier with large scale mega-projects.

[zyoninkiro]

I happy to see this project getting the spotlight. I have lived in Turin for the past 18+ years and I have seen this project gradually move forward with baby steps while getting hounded by the NoTAV movement.