Why Europe is Building a 57KM Tunnel Through a Mountain 

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

I like trains 🚂

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.

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

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

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

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?

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!

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.

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 :)

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

Another high quality video from B1M

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

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

Signifigantly cheaper per mile than UKs HS2 despite looking much more complex, longer, and tbh more cool sounding.

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

I've been wainting for this video for ages!! Used to live in Turin, where part of my life still is, and I now live in Lyon!! And as crazy as it can be, I don't take "high speed" train to go there, I take the bus which is the same time (4h+) but way less expensive... And problem is, friday night, after a week of work, I can't go much further than Turin, because the last trains take off when I arrive. Having a real high speed train would be a game changer! Also, on a cultural note, Turin and Lyon have really lots on common, but it is astonishing how few the two cities know each other!

Worth mentioning that the Swiss Gotthard tunnel can‘t be fully used due to the extremely slow german buildout of connecting lines😢

All of this new rail work in Europe is very exciting; I'm just sad that Kraftwerk isn't around anymore to write music about it

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🇮🇹

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.

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

I really appreciate how you treat the opposition to these projects with respect. It's easy to look at ones like this where they have been accommodated already and still are hardline against anything at all being done, and just dismiss them because of it. But you always take the time to acknowledge their concerns and present them without judging. That's not easy to do and I respect it.

Having taken the train from turin to paris last month, I must say, this tunnel will be amazing, issues aside

So it's much cheaper to literally drill through a mountain in Europe than build a fast-ish train from London to Leeds?

This is the only place I get up to date construction news from around the world. It's just not reported on local or national news channels.

Europe is building high speed railway lines like the US built interstate highways back in the 1950s. It's that big of a boom of construction

Love this channel its so grown up for RU-vid just superb

These videos always give me something to look forward to in the middle of the week. Thanks for making Wednesdays much more interesting 👍

As always, excellent video, guys. I've always had an interest in architecture and construction and I really look forward to your podcast and the accompanying videos each week. Love how when you're comparing your videos, Fred, you stretch out your words. Compleeted, Ventilationn, finish iin 2022, much better than 1,000's of videos on other channels that have no character.

Great content, as usual. Thank you for giving us this amazing insight into the world of construction.

Love all of your videos man, I was so stoked to see a new one because I've seen the rest so many times 🤣 Great content as always, you and the team do amazing work. I look forward to watching you track the buildout of this massive European transit network!

You should do a video on the de-construction of the Champlain bridge in Montreal, Qc, Canada. It's a 3,5km 6 lane 50 years old highway bridge, over one of the biggest river and shipping lane in Canada, but that had to be replaced due to its deteriorating condition. However rather than blowing it up (or quickly demolishing it), they de-construct it piece by piece, to try and reuse its components, and to limit environmental impact as much as possible. A show on the French national broadcast channel (Radio Canada) followed this process and filmed impressive shots that you could likely use for a video.

Great to Marco Chitti featured!

Love this channel, content is always brilliant 👍

cant wait to take a high speed train from Paris to Milan

Your videos are gem to all civil engineer aspirants, provides a lot of valuable insight to civil engineering projects and the challenges to overcome to accomplish the project. Thank you very much.

Please make the next video on the mountainous rail projects of India: the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link, the Jiribam-Imphal line, etc.

The B1m is the my favourite you tube channel

I only looked yesterday to see if you have already uploaded a video about it and now it's uploaded 👌

Hey Fred, Can you do a video specifically covering the raise boring machine? It seems like a really cool, and super unique piece of engineering/construction equipment. Perhaps lump it in with a few other very specialized pieces of construction equipment? Cheers!

Impressed by this project. Not as impressed as I am of the channel. Really taking off now. Well deserved guys. Fred! Your a great presenter.

Appreciate this great quality of your content without any shady ads. Great thing you went for 4K videos ;)

Another belter & you make these videos easy to understand 👏👍🙏

Very good as usual 👍

As a fellow guy named Fred, having the boring machine named Federica is awesome to see.

I don't know why, but videos like this make me relax. The best therapy youtube has to offer for me. Thank you 🙂

Thoroughly enjoyed this, thank you

I'd like this channel to go into more details of the wonderful machines that build the things this channel talks about. Maybe it could be a separate series. For example, that ventilation shaft drill which drills upwards and excavates at the same time, how does it do that? Also I'd like to see vids that answer basic questions, like how do they insure the holes 'pilot' down the planned lined. If you bore from both ends, how to make the tunnels meet? But not just boring, even things like answering basic questions about how buildings are built would be fascinating to see, and this channel would do an amazing job of it as well.

Why no video about the Gotthard Base Tunnel or Neat? It is already built, in use and is a engineering marvel.

This tunnel is all about that base, 'bout that base, 'bout that base.

Great video as always! Cheers!

Continental Europe by 2030, will be a very exciting place to live.

The Swiss watching French and Italians discovering base tunnels years later. 😂

Oh wow I need to go back and watch that video on the train from Helsinki to Valletta, amazing. This video was great, thanks!

This is my favourite content that you guys do

Hey guys, have you ended memberships? Great video as always!

So let me get this straight: France and Italy are building a HSR line that includes a massive base tunnel for far less than CAHSR? The US seriously needs to address the systemic issues with infrastructure projects here.

Thank heavens for projects that stretch human collaboration and ingenuity. I love it. I hope I live long enough to use it.

Listening to you narrate this video was an education as always.

I'm confused. Is the island of Malta going to get a tunnel or bridge connection with the mainland or am I understanding incorrectly how this network operates? I find information about this project remarkably difficult to find. Edit. It'll be shipping routes. Still, amazing Europe is doing all of this, here we can't even get a 900 km high speed line between our two biggest cities to alleviate one of the busiest plane routes in the world.

People will always complain about anything.

The B1m is the best of you tube

Thank you for sharing. It looks very cool.

Love the video, and RE the value of the tunnel - Almost any large construction project built to optimize transport has been a massive success over a long time. Sure it takes forever when building it, costs billions, delayed by years at times, risk of corruption, but once it is done and Operations have been smoothed out, usually it is just one long surplus giving project that maybe has to spend 10-15 yrs to pay for itself but it usually lasts 50-100+ yrs without major maintainance, so economically alone it is worth it. And then there is the economic stimulus of such a project on the trade and economy of the users which is usually not measured in, which is billions+ again.

Whenever I see these major infrastructure projects in Europe and Asia I weep for our heinous transport infrastructure here in the US…

Awesome video yet again

thanks, great again

I'll say it again: Engineering of any type is amazing... 😏

$27 Billion for the entire line and the HS2 for similar length £44 Billions

The Brenner Base Tunnel will be 64km when complete, the 55km tunnel is the shorter option from Franzensfeste to Innsbruck.

Awesome to see my city (Lyon) in The B1M! :D

Clearly someone is having fun with the tunnel videos lol

The best

Amazing video. Thx

we did 54km here in switzerland - north to south - the NEAT New Gotthard Tunnel - saw it from the inside just before it was opened - crazy work

How does the "raised boring machine" remove the debris it's boring through? Does it fall through down the shaft or is it somehow brought up?

Hi Fred and Team, as a Pole I'm very interested in projects that concern my country, I was wondering if there will ever be a video in the future about Rail Baltica, Solidarity Transport hub, Carpathian highway, or high speed trains in Poland?

Gandalf, lets go through the Mines of Moria!

Love you bro

Love how humans can do the impossible all the time, transcontinental railways, transport tunnels under the English Channel, and now tunnel under whole mountain ranges

Could you do a video about Cargo sous Terrain in Switzerland? The goal is to remove traffic from road as well as the avoid additional traffic above the ground. It's interesting because the environmental impact should be reduced and the project automate the traffic of goods. City logistics should be reformed along the project as well.

Very glad to know

As a student in Civil Engineering Technology this channel is the go-to for contruction video's... damn :p

The B1M - There is a large project underway in Virginia US to expand the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. A TBM is also being used and has been named Mary. A video on this project would be very informative, especially for those of us who are local to the project.

Taking a million trucks off the mountain roads is huge. I’m all for it. I imagine it could take plenty passenger cars off, too.

Beautiful!

My friend from Italy is working in this tunnel. He sent me some blasting videos in the tunnel.

On their way to vacation in Italy last year, my parents by accident got caught in a no-tav protest on the highway. People suddenly blocked the highway and their car was wrecked with stones and pipes. They thought they were being robbed and feared for their lives. We only later found out it was a protest. I love traveling Europe by train, and however impressive, this project will always have a sour taste for us. And any sympathy we could have for the motivation of that no-tav group is permanently gone.

Most of the world: investing a lot of money into expanding and improving rail infrastructure some countries: rail infrastructure? What's that? We only know adding another lane to the road :D

Nice to see Marco Chitti in your video! I wish CNBC had consulted him on their "Track-less tram" video too!

The outro tune was a lively bop

Honestly 27B feels small for something like this

I work and live part time in Val Cenis, in the Maurienne valley. I don't have a problem with it but: calling it a 'high speed line' is silly. And the claimed time savings are crazy: the main passenger train that goes through the old tunnel (Paris-Milan service) could go ~2 hours faster tomorrow if we wanted to by ditching around 7 (yes SEVEN) intermediate stops on what is supposed to be a flagship, high speed service. It takes around 5 hours to get to Modane from Paris, the start of the current tunnel, and that could be cut down to 3ish hours simply by taking the direct route and not stopping at every bloody station. No idea about how much time can be saved on the Italian side, probably a large amount. Us locals who take this train regularly know this, so spending billions and billions for a quoted time saving that can already be made with scheduling changes is a bit of a hard sell. As for the environmental impact, it's not a strip mall where we need to turn half the valley into concrete. No problem with the environmental side. This is the cost of progress, this needs to be built but they need to be realistic about what it's going to do: making it easier to carry more freight on rails through the valley. The Tunnel Du Frejus is ancient. And of course hard core leftists/antifa/black bloc hate shite like this so make it their mission to ruin everyone's day, including people like me who live in the vicinity and have genuine, reasonable concerns.

Neat how Europe is always upgrading the infrastructure and in North America we hope the bridges don’t collapse

Wow last summer I took this train route. Beautiful scenery. Ended up sleeping outside of Lyon station because I missed my connection 🙃