Trouble for Europe's largest megatunnel: it would connect Austria with Italy

The European Court of Auditors has revealed new findings on delays and cost overruns affecting several transportation infrastructure projects across the European Union, including the Brenner Base Tunnel.

This tunnel, designed to link Austria and Italy beneath the Alps, will not be completed before 2032. That represents a delay of 16 years compared to the original schedule. Initially, completion was planned for 2016, but it was later rescheduled to 2028, a target the European Union has now ruled out.

Another major issue facing the project is the steady rise in costs. According to the European Court of Auditors, the tunnel will be 40 percent more expensive than originally projected, reaching a total of €8.47 billion.

However, this is not an isolated case. The institution has identified similar challenges in other major infrastructure projects such as the Lyon–Turin rail link, the Basque Y, and Rail Baltica, whose costs have doubled since 2020.

An unreachable goal

The Court has also warned that completing the core infrastructure network planned for 2030 is impossible. While this warning is not new, since five years ago it had already described the goal as “probably unattainable,” it now states plainly that “it cannot be achieved.”

These delays and cost overruns are attributed to several factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the armed conflict in Ukraine, the introduction of new legal requirements, and unforeseen technical obstacles that have made it difficult to meet deadlines.

The current audit did not examine the access routes to the tunnel, either in the south, in Italy, or in the north, in Bavaria, Germany. Therefore, the German government will be responsible for deciding whether to proceed with the construction of the northern access to the Brenner. This project is expected to be submitted to parliament during the first half of the year, as confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Transport.

Trouble for Europe’s largest megatunnel: it would connect Austria with Italy

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