At the heart of the Lyon-Turin railway project lies the design and construction of the 270 km Mont Cenis base tunnel, connecting France and Italy. The tunnel is part of the European TEN-T network and aims to reduce freight traffic through the Alps’ valleys to mitigate pollution and environmental impact.
With TELT as the public promoter and Consortium CO 6-7 (including VINCI Construction Grands Projets and Webuild) for the Saint Martin-La-Porte to Modane section, the project tackles a wide range of geological challenges that demand advanced construction techniques.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) and cloud-based collaboration play a crucial role in the tunnel’s development. By integrating various data sources, BIM and cloud collaboration help anticipate construction issues, improving coordination and decision-making.
Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) facilitates collaboration, while the final BIM model enhances not only construction accuracy but also long-term maintenance planning. Revit is used for tunnel design and modeling, Navisworks for aggregating BIM models, and ReCap Pro for interpreting point cloud data. Additionally, Civil 3D provides precise control over infrastructure design, including alignment and profiling.
These solutions empower the project teams to virtually build and troubleshoot before physical work begins, ensuring smoother construction of this vital alpine connection.
Salvatore D’Alfonso, BIM Director, TELT: It's the international section of a 270-kilometer line that will relieve the Alpine valleys of ever-increasing truck traffic, causing significant environmental damage and pollution.
Michele Positano, BIM Manager, Consortium CO 6-7: I work for the VINCI Construction - Webuild consortium, which is in charge of the two operational sites 6 and 7, which run from Saint Martin-La-Porte to Modane. On this site, 21 km will be excavated using the traditional drill & blast method and 25 km will be excavated with 3 TBMs (Tunnel Boring Machines).
We're doing the civil engineering work, which includes all the excavation and surfacing, including drainage. This excavation is made up of two tunnels running in parallel where the two trains will be running, i.e. the tracks. And all along these two tunnels, there are branches to go from one tunnel to the other.
Salvatore D’Alfonso, BIM Director, TELT: We're digging into several types of rock. That's why BIM is such an effective process because you can take into account a wide range of information, cross-reference it, and intervene in advance on technicalities.
Michele Positano, BIM Manager, Consortium CO 6-7: BIM means building virtually beforehand. Any problems we may encounter on site are anticipated during the virtual phase.
Sarah Vanier, BIM Manager, VINCI Construction Grands Projets: I think the most important thing in a call for tenders is to show the customer that we've understood his requirements. The main aim of carrying out a BIM project is to be able to work together on the BIM models, around different documentation, in a common data environment.
Salvatore D’Alfonso, BIM Director, TELT: We trained TELT staff with the software solutions that TELT had chosen for the development of the project digital delivery. In other words, most of the Autodesk solutions.
Michele Positano, BIM Manager, Consortium CO 6-7: We started using Revit to design and build the tunnel. We use Navisworks to aggregate the different BIM models. ReCap Pro is used to read and visualize the point clouds models. Finally, we use Civil 3D as it’s our infrastructure software in order to check the axes, longitudinal profiles, etc.
Salvatore D’Alfonso, BIM Director, TELT: We use the ACC platform, e.g. Autodesk Construction Cloud. Our role is mainly to coordinate, manage the project, verify the various models, and check the final quality of the BIM models.
BIM will be able to improve the access to information to stakeholders and, above all, communication with elected representatives. All this will be made available, and the final BIM model will be available, not only as a static model, but as an improvement in the understanding of the site condition and an innovation for the maintenance phases of the tunnel.
Sarah Vanier, BIM Manager, VINCI Construction Grands Projets: We work mainly on large-scale, complex projects. So, I'd say it's a in the company's DNA to respond to a project like TELT.
