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As part of the ongoing Vestfoldbanen railway upgrade scheme, state-owned Norwegian railway infrastructure company Bane NOR is building 10 km of new double-track railway between Drammen and Kobbervikdalen.
In 2018, ILF Consulting Engineers was hired by the Norwegian contractor Veidekke Entreprenør AS as the designer of the most technically challenging section of the project, a 290 m-long tunnel mined in difficult geology below the groundwater table. The excavation commences in low cohesion glaciofluvial deposits and progressively transitions into full face rock excavation. Extensive ground improvement works in the form of jet-grouting will be executed from the surface in advance of the tunnelling works.

Norway has a long tradition of rock tunnelling, however large span soil tunnels are not common in the country. ILF is able to bring expertise and success on similar tunnel designs to this project.

Initially, ILF prepared the Tender Design and supported Veidekke during the Competitive Dialogue competition. After the EPC Contract was awarded to Veidekke in October 2019, ILF developed the Concept Design to later carry on with the Detailed Design, which is currently underway and includes a BIM model which is then integrated into a combined model of all the works within the contract.