Your career at ILF in Austria: Tunnel Engineering Department

WHAT WE DO

ILF’s Tunnel Engineering department in Austria has been working with underground infrastructure projects for more than 50 years, mainly in Austria and Germany, but also all over the world – currently in Northern Europe and South America. The range of projects which we work on includes railway and road tunnels (which make up the majority of our work), supply tunnels, hydropower plants, and also special structures such as gravity storage facilities or the ring tunnel for the next particle accelerator (the Future Circular Collider “FCC”) for CERN.

We strive to achieve a good mix of projects in all planning and design phases – starting with advising clients in the early phases of projects (e.g. with feasibility studies), through the conceptual design and permit application design phases, to the construction design phase.

When selecting projects, we are always on the lookout for particularly challenging projects.

One of our main objectives is to support our clients in finding the best solution for their tunnelling projects by providing them with our technical know-how and taking account of the given constraints, such as economic efficiency, environmental considerations, etc.

In our tunnel projects, we work closely with other departments, including the Geology and Hydrogeology department, the Geotechnical Engineering department, the Structural Engineering department, the Electrical Engineering department, the Mechanical Engineering department, the Transport Engineering department, the Environmental Engineering department and the Hydropower & Alpine Engineering department. The breadth of our pooled expertise when working together with these other departments at ILF enables us to provide interdisciplinary planning and design services for tunnel projects from a single source.

In addition to the implementation of construction projects, the renewal and rehabilitation of old railway and road tunnels is also a field of activity that has gained considerable importance in recent years.

Our professional competence in this field covers the entire range of sequential excavation methods, especially those involving special measures in difficult ground conditions, but also increasingly the planning of tunnel advance using tunnel boring machines (TBMs).

The use of BIM (3D/4D/5D models) in projects has furthermore become of pivotal importance in our department’s planning activities.

OUR TEAM

WHO YOU’LL BE WORKING WITH

Our department, which currently has 33 employees and is actively supported by 4 employees from ILF Poland, is made up of Design Engineers, BIM Modellers, BIM Coordinators and Apprentices (who make up about half of the department) as well as Support Staff, Technical Experts and Project Managers (who make up the other half of the department).
Depending on requirements, we form individual project teams – which usually comprise several departments – and are additionally supported by Team Assistants.
Despite the high cost and time pressures often associated with tunnel projects, we attach great importance to fostering a friendly team spirit, based on mutual appreciation and respect, and a good sense of humour in our day-to-day work.

“My team is a great mix of characters, generations, ideas and opinions. The members of this team are distinguished by their commitment, the support that they give each other when things get tough, and the fact that they don’t lose their sense of humour despite all the work they do.”

Kajetan Matt

Department Manager – Tunnel Engineering

MEET YOUR COLLEAGUES

“The exciting challenges in the area of BIM and the close interaction with my colleagues make my work particularly exciting. The biggest motivating factor for me is being able to solve problems and develop innovative solutions.”

Massimo P.

BIM Modeller / BIM Coordinator

“I like the “can-do” spirit at ILF and getting to use new software solutions in our everyday work, e.g. when working on BIM projects. Together with active lunch breaks, where we hit the trails near to the office, all these things make for perfect work days.”

Julie D.

Young Engineer

“I fondly look back on the moment, when, after spending so much time working on its design, I finally got to see the Strengen Tunnel. We celebrate project completions like this by, for example, going out for a meal together. But it is not only on these occasions that we enjoy spending time together, we also have other get-togethers from time to time.”

Daniel S.

Project Manager

“A big challenge for us in the last year has been, and still is, implementing our planning and design tasks following the BIM method, which requires a completely different way of working and thinking. It has been/is exciting to see how our younger employees in particular are coming to terms with the tasks associated with digitalization and how they are motivated to grow with the new tasks and recognize additional potential and development opportunities.”

Frank K.

Deputy Department Manager

REFERENCE PROJECTS

RAIL:

Tunnel on the 2^nd S-Bahn Main Line in Munich (7.3 km), Germany
Tunnel on the New Dresden–Prague High-Speed Line (up to approx. 30 km), Germany/Czechia
Tunnel for the Frankfurt Fernbahntunnel Project (approx. 7.5 km), Germany
Tunnel on the Radfeld Junction (A)–Border–Kirnstein (G) Railway Line Section (upgraded to four-track operation), including the Angerberg Tunnel (11.5 km) and the Buchberg Tunnel (12.9 km), Austria/Germany
Tunnel on the New Köstendorf–Salzburg High-Speed Line, Flachgau Tunnel (16.5 km), Austria
Drammen Tunnel – UDK02 (0.3 km), Norway
HS2 High-Speed Railway Line in London, Great Britain

ROAD:

B 23, Kramer Tunnel (3.6 km), Germany
B 2, Wank Tunnel (3.6 km), Germany
A 26 Linz Western Ring Road (4.3 km), Austria
S 18 Lake Constance Expressway (5.5 km), Austria

HYDROPOWER, POWER SUPPLY AND MISCELLANEOUS:

Alto Maipo Hydropower Project (tunnel system > 10 km), Chile
Lake Constance Water Transmission System, Construction Lot 2, approx. 1-km-long tunnel, Germany
Coire Glas Hydropower Plant, Great Britain

IN OUR DEPARTMENT…