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Lainz Tunnel

Facts and Figures
Company PORR Bau GmbH in a consortium
Principal ÖBB Infrastruktur AG
Location Vienna - Austria
Type Slab track system, Rail construction
Runtime 12.2009 - 10.2012

Important infrastructure project.

Lainz Tunnel serves as the connection between the Western, Southern and Donauländebahn railway sections and represented, when completed, one of the most important infrastructure projects of recent years. The project’s central element is its ÖBB-PORR system slab tracks, mostly built by means of the mass-spring system, certain sections by means of a heavy mass-spring system. Among others, the contract also included the construction of side walkways, a partial retroactively fitted fire protection system, pipelines for fire-extinguishing water, airlock ventilation and airlock doors as well as steel construction.

Due to the fact that Lainz Tunnel is located in a sensitive inner-city area and used by standard gauge heavy freight trains, great attention was paid to vibration protection. Thanks to the use of the so-called mass-spring system, the tracks are entirely disconnected from the ground. Thus, vibration is not transferred to the tunnel’s shell or subsequently to the surface.

This project’s logistics presented a truly extraordinary challenge. Since Lainz Tunnel directly merges into the Wienerwald Tunnel and therefore represents a dead end, 72,000m³ of concrete that were to be installed had to be brought in through a single tunnel portal. For purposes of constructing the first track of the dual-track connection tunnel, the concrete mixers entered the tunnel in Vienna’s 10th district and – in accordance with the tendered one-way system – left it close to the city limits via a side gallery in the 13th district. Thus, half of Vienna had to be traversed on the surface in order to get back to the mixing plant. For the second track’s construction, the concrete mixers were loaded onto trains and pulled to the installation site on the tracks.

  • 18,500m of slab tracks, 12,640m of which by means of the mass-spring system 
  • 10 switches in slab tracks
  • 1,820m of ballasted track, four switches in the ballast
  • Retroactively installed fire protection system
  • Side walkways, cable troughs, concrete for precast elements
  • Pipelines for fire-extinguishing water
  • Ventilation
  • Fire protection doors and gates
  • Handrails and railings
  • Plant room completion
  • 72,000m³ of concrete
  • 6,450t of reinforcements