On 18th September 2025, the exploratory tunnel for the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) on the border between Austria and Italy was completed. The 56 km section, which has been under construction since 2007, will be used for geotechnical investigations of the rock conditions during the construction of the main tunnel. Once the BBT is completed, the tunnel will be used as a drainage, technical and maintenance corridor. With the breakthrough, tunnel work on the Italian side is now complete. A total of 88% of the tunnel excavation work for the entire project has been completed. Of the seven construction sites along the line, three are currently still active. The BBT is part of the Scandinavia–Mediterranean corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and is intended to improve rail connections on the Munich – Verona corridor. Once the 64 km twin-tube tunnel system is completed, the travel time for passenger trains between Fortezza and Innsbruck will be reduced from 80 to 25 minutes. The EU is co-financing the project with a total of EUR 2.3 billion until the end of 2025.
