The excavation of the first tube of the 2.5 km long Deutsch-Gruschen tunnel on the Koralm railway line was completed on the 1st of September. The tunnel is being built by the JV Implenia / Hochtief, which was assigned by the railway administration to build a 6.1 km long stretch of the Koralm line in January 2015. The project also includes the construction of the 2.9 km long Langer Berg twin-tube tunnel and the 600 m long Granitztal cut-and-cover tunnel. The tunnels are being built using conventional methods. The Koralm railway is a 127 km long double-track, electrified, high-speed railway whose construction started in 2001. The entire line is expected to be finished in 2023. More information about the Koralm Tunnel, under the Koralpe mountains that give the railway its name, can be found here.

Fig. 1 Koralm railway line