Europe joins hands beneath the Alps: Austria and Italy are united by the Brenner Base Tunnel railway project

Innsbruck/Bolzano – 28 July 2026. The historic breakthrough between the H53 Pfons–Brenner and H61 Mules 2–3 construction lots has been completed. Moments later, miners and project managers crossed the national border for the first time, entering the H61 Mules 2–3 tunnel section, built by the BTC consortium comprising Ghella, Webuild, PAC and Cogeis, where they shook hands with their Italian colleagues. 

The breakthrough has connected the Austrian excavations of the H53 Pfons–Brenner construction lot with the main tunnels already completed as part of the Italian H61 Mules 2–3 lot. H61 Mules 2–3 is the largest construction lot within the entire project area, extending from the northern boundary of the other Italian lot, known as the Isarco River Underpass, to the Italian-Austrian border. The works include the construction of the two main railway tunnels, an exploratory tunnel, cross passages and an emergency stop—one of three located along the entire route and the only one on Italian territory—together with its access tunnel.

At a depth of approximately 1,400 metres beneath the Brenner Pass, two new cross-border connections have been created between Austria and Italy. Following the breakthrough in the exploratory tunnel on 18 September, Austria and Italy are now also connected through the two main railway tunnels.

This major milestone marks not only the completion of two tunnel sections, but also the meeting of two construction sites that had operated independently for several years: the Austrian H53 Pfons–Brenner construction lot and the Italian H61 Mules 2–3 lot.

Two different excavation methods were used to achieve this result. On the Italian side, the Virginia and Flavia tunnel boring machines excavated the two main tunnels as far as the national border. On the Austrian side, excavation was carried out using conventional drill-and-blast methods. Today’s breakthrough therefore connects not only two countries and two construction sites, but also two well-established tunnelling techniques.

Today’s event symbolises the close cooperation between two countries, engineering excellence and the tireless commitment of everyone involved in the project, who are delivering this major railway infrastructure with expertise and dedication.

Foto credits BBT SE