World of PORR 163/2013 PORR Updates Stuttgart – Ulm Railway Project: Start of the construction ceremony The project partners and contractors, together with representatives from politics, celebrated the symbolic start of the tunnel construction on the new Wendlingen-Ulm line.

The official starting signal for the tunnel construction along the new Wendlingen-Ulm line was given with a symbolic tunnel start at the Steinbühl Tunnel on 19th July 2013. “The start of tunnel construction on the Alp ascent is a milestone for the new construction of the Wendlingen-Ulm rail line. This route is part of a European highway which stretches from Paris to Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsburg and Munich, and on to Austria and Hungary. With the new line, the regions of Stuttgart and Ulm will be connected to the European high- speed network”, stressed Dr. Peter Ramsauer, Federal Minister for Transport, Building and Urban Development. Within the future 60 km long high-speed line, the Alp ascent will be the “engineering masterpiece” between Aichelberg and Hohenstadt in the Göppingen district – as accurately described by the Chairman of the Board of Deutsche Bahn AG, Dr. Rüdiger Grube.

In the presence of the Baden-Württemberg Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Winfried Hermann, Chairman of the Board, Dr. Grube, said: “Together with Stuttgart 21, the new line enables the reorganisation of the most important railway node in Baden-Württemberg and thus lays the foundations for a sustainable transport infrastructure in the south-west.”

General Director Karl-Heinz Strauss praised the cooperation with the consortium partners in this ambitious tunnel construction. Following an ecumenical blessing, the Minister’s wife, Susanne Ramsauer, as patroness of the tunnel, performed the symbolic tunnel start together with the miners.

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