All language subtitles for Building Giants Series 2 Part 6 Mega Mountain Tunnel 1O80p

Narrator: In central europe,

This elite team of engineers

Is embarking
on an epic endeavor.

You're going where no one
has ever been before.

♪

Narrator:
They are attempting to build

The longest underground railway
in the world,

Running right through the heart

Of the mighty
alps mountain range.

That's it! No, no, no!
[ speaks indistinctly ]

Narrator:
To construct this colossus,

The team must battle
intense heat...

...Massive machines,

And dangerous explosives.

[ speaks foreign language ]

Narrator:
This remarkable structure ranks

In a league of ambitious
new engineering wonders

That are bigger, faster, taller,
and more advanced

Than anything
ever constructed before.

This is the inside story of
the extraordinary challenge

Of building these giants.

♪

-- Captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪

The alps, europe's highest
mountain range,

Soars nearly three miles high.

It forms a formidable
natural barrier

Between Italy in the south

And the rest of europe
in the north.

The main route through
is this steep winding link

Called the brenner pass.

♪

The brenner pass crosses
the border

Between Italy and austria.

It is one of the most crucial
transport links in europe.

The link is made up of a highway

Carrying cars and heavy trucks

And a railway carrying
both passengers and freight.

The railway is more than
150 years old

And winds slowly around
perilously steep gradients.

♪

The highway is crammed with
traffic and regularly closed

Due to its atrocious weather,

But the last 20 years,

Engineers have been working
on a radical solution

For this transportation
challenge.

It's called
the brenner base tunnel

And is a brand-new rail link

That will carry both freight
and passengers.

This will be no
ordinary railway.

It will run through a network
of tunnels

That cut right through

The rugged geography
of the alps.

This is the network of tunnels

They must build
to complete the railway.

The tunnels will carve a 34-mile
direct line from innsbruck

In austria
to fortezza in Italy.

They will run at depths close
to 6,000 feet

Beneath the mighty alps.

Two huge 26-foot-diameter
tunnels each lined

With 12-inch-thick
concrete slabs

Run side by side for north
and southbound trains.

Cross tunnels every
1,090 feet connect them

While the smaller
service tunnel runs below.

Three cavernous underground
refuges

Provide smoke-proof
escape routes to safety

In case a fire breaks out.

Over 200 trains an hour
will hurtle through the tunnel

At speeds of up to
155 miles per hour,

Slashing journey times through
the alps by 55 minutes.

When complete, it will become
the longest rail tunnel

In the world.

Digging tunnels
through the heart

Of the tallest mountain range
in europe

Is a formidable challenge.

It rests on the shoulders
of project supervisor giorgio

To keep this
massive project on track.

This is the biggest project
in europe.

The challenges are very high.

We have to face
a very hard rock.

It's gonna be the longest
tunnel in the world,

So the skills will be
pushed to the limit.

Narrator:
This is how they'll do it.

The tunnel is too long
to simply start at one end

And finish at the other,

So engineers will divide
it up into sections.

First, they must dig
three access tunnels

On each side of the alps
in both austria and Italy.

These shafts get crews down
to the main tunnel route

Through several different
access points along the way.

From here, they create smaller
exploratory tunnels

To understand
the rock conditions

Surrounding the main tunnel.

Next, huge custom-built
tunneling machines

Bore the majority
of the two main tunnels.

Workers use explosives
to excavate the cross tunnels

And emergency stops.

Digging several sections
of the tunnel

At once cuts the overall
build time by half

Compared to digging
a long tunnel in one go,

But they have to get their
measurements millimeter accurate

To make sure
all the tunnel sections meet up.

[ explosion ]

[ cheering ]

Narrator:
Excavation began in 2007.

It took workers over 10 years
just to prepare the site

And dig the smaller
preliminary tunnels

Down to the main tunnel route,

And that was the easy part.

Now the project enters
its most ambitious stage.

On the austrian side,
engineers are gearing up

To excavate
the exploratory tunnels

South towards the border.

Meanwhile, in Italy,
they're getting ready to start

Digging the two main
railway tunnels.

To construct
the subterranean passages,

Workers have had to dig out two
huge caverns deep underground.

♪

These will house a pair
of mountain-eating monsters,

Two huge tunnel boring machines,
called tbms,

That will excavate the rock.

Project lead giorgio's
first challenge

Is to transport the pieces
of these colossal machines

From the factory where they're
being fabricated in germany

To his underground labyrinth
in Italy

Where they will be assembled.

I am supposed to know this place
like the back of my hand.

Problem is that logistics

And everything change
on a daily basis,

So you know it like
the back of your hand,

But it's a different hand
every day. [ chuckles ]

Narrator: Each tunnel boring
machine is 656 feet long,

Weighs a colossal 3,031 tons

And is powered by a huge

5,700-horsepower engine.

At the front of each machine,
a massive 35-foot-wide cutter

Head claws through the rock.

Behind, a thick metal skin
shields a conveyor belt

That clears the debris.

Further back,
huge hydraulic pistons

Grip the rock side walls

And drive the cutting head
forward with a force of 35 tons.

Boring stops only to reposition
the grippers every 5 1/2 feet.

Finally, a robotic arm
installs concrete segments

To seal the tunnel
and form its walls.

[ machine whirring ]

These digging demons
can punch through up

To 100 feet of solid rock
every single day.

♪

It's winter time and peak
tourist season in the alps.

♪

3,000 feet below,

Giorgio's work site
is overcrowded.

We have right now about
700 workers on the job,

And each one is doing a job,

But it's only teamwork
that pays off,

And you'll get mad at everyone,

But you're going
to need everyone.

[ speaking foreign language ]

These people have a problem
with geometry,

Which is not
the best thing down here.

Narrator:
The tunnel boring machines

Are too big to transport

From germany to giorgio's site
in one piece,

So engineers must ship them in
half a million smaller pieces.

For each machine, reassembling
all the pieces on site

Takes giorgio's team
four months.

Positioning the cutter head
at the front of the machine

Is the hardest part.

These are the cutters
that penetrate the rock.

The cutter head rotates.

Usually normal condition,

It'll go three
or four rounds per minute.

So you're running 7 days a week,
24 hours a day,

And this machine
that is noisy, vibrates,

It sort of becomes
of a life companion

For the length
of the excavation.

Narrator: Lifting up the 206-ton
cutting head to its final

Upright position
is no simple task.

It needs to fit into a special
supporting bearing

Perfectly without damaging
the intricate cutting mechanism.

In charge of the megaton lift
is supervisor rui.

So...

Narrator:
A broken cutter head

Would set
the team back by months

And millions of dollars.

Failure isn't an option.

♪

♪

Narrator:
High in the italian alps,

A team of engineers

Is building the longest
railway tunnel in the world.

Over the last four weeks,
they've been painstakingly

Constructing one of two
huge tunnel boring machines.

Today, supervisor rui
and his team of engineers

Are lifting the 206-ton
cutting head into place.

The team's first job
is to attach the head

To two giant cranes

And slowly start lifting it
to a vertical position.

Workers must constantly move
the crane forward

To keep it directly
above the head.

If they get it wrong,

The massive disk
could swing uncontrollably.

♪

It takes four hours
of meticulous work

To haul the head vertical.

Now rui's team must carefully
pull the cutter head back

To slot it
into the front of the machine.

♪

They move the head
inch by inch

To line it up perfectly.

♪

Rui climbs inside
the tunneling machine

To check that
the head aligns properly.

Okay.

Narrator: There isn't enough
space here to use power tools.

[ speaks foreign language ]

Narrator: So workers must bolt
the head into position by hand.

Finally, after 36 hours
of grueling work,

Rui's team safely secures
the cutter head.

Teams work 24/7
for the next three months

Assembling the half
a million parts

Of this mammoth
digging machine.

As they complete
every new section,

They push the cutter head
further down the cavern

Towards the rock face.

They have named this giant
rock-eating machine flavia.

It's the first of the two
tunneling machines

That will attempt to eat
through the 8.6 miles of rock

That stands between here
and the austrian border.

Flavia costs a staggering
$22 million,

But once tunneling,
she'll be worth every penny.

A tbm like this is essential
to the project.

A tbm can go to
30 meters a day.

With conventional excavation,

It would take us
a very, very long time.

♪

It's may, and flavia
is completely assembled.

♪

Today is a critical day.

Engineers are going to fire
up the machine

For the very first time
to start digging.

Project lead mario ensures
engineers double-check

That every system
is working perfectly

Before he pushes
the start button.

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator:
Time for the big decision.

Now it's okay.

Narrator: Tunneling is go.

This is the crucial moment
mario and his team

Have been working towards
for one year.

So...

♪

Narrator: The machine
spins into action

And begins to burrow
through the solid mountain rock.

With the machine finally
digging forward,

Lead engineer giac and his team
face the next big challenge.

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator: They must install
the huge concrete rings

That will form
the new tunnel walls

Directly behind
the cutter head.

♪

As the machine grinds its way
through the alps,

It leaves bare
granite walls behind it.

There's a risk that any loose
rock could fall

And crush machinery.

The concrete rings,
called tubbing,

Are designed to prevent this,

But installing these
heavy unwieldy slabs of concrete

Precisely is a huge
engineering challenge.

This is how they plan to do it.

♪

First,
workers use a robotic arm

To slide the four-ton sections
of tubbing into place.

Each piece contains
two thick waterproof membranes

And is strong enough
to protect against rock falls.

♪

The sections sit inside

The boring machine's
metal shield.

♪

Once the ring is complete,
the shield moves forward,

And the workers pump
fine gravel

Between the tubbing
and the rock.

This helps water drain
down and out at the base.

♪

Finally, they install power,

Signal systems, and rails.

The end result --

A superstrong,
watertight railway tunnel

That should last for 200 years.

Narrator:
Giac and his team must lay

The first set of rings
perfectly

Because getting this step wrong

Could cause serious structural
problems for the whole tunnel.

♪

♪

Narrator: On the italian side
of the brenner base tunnel,

Main engineer giac
and his team

Are installing
a crucial section of tubbing.

Workers use
a remote-control unit

To carefully lift
each piece of concrete tubbing.

Precision here is key.

[ speaking foreign language ]

Once a piece of tubbing is
in place, they cannot remove it.

This is high-pressure,
highly skilled work.

As they work their way
around the ring,

They must constantly check that
they align each piece properly.

No, no, no, no, no!
[ speaks foreign language ]

Narrator: It takes just
10 minutes to lock

All seven sections
of each ring into place.

The last piece is critical.

Only if the key fits will
they know for sure

That they have built
this ring correctly...

Man:
[ speaks foreign language ]

Narrator: ...And can continue
to tunnel forward.

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator: One ring down,
7,999 to go.

It's a relentless battle
for giac's team

To supply enough tubbing
to build the rings

As the tunneling machine
forges forward.

If we don't have a ring ready
and installed for the tbm

To advance and get ready
for the next excavation,

There's no way of advancing,
so the supply line is critical.

Narrator: Engineers have come up
with an ingenious solution

To keeping this machine
fed with tubbing.

They make the tubbing
from the excavated rock itself.

The digging machines
excavate around 2,000 tons

Of debris every day.

A series of conveyor belts
transports

The 8.6 miles
out of the tunnel

To this custom-built factory.

Here workers recycle the rock

And transform it
into the ring segments.

♪

Carlo is the head of
the 190-strong

Tubbing-factory team.

They mix broken rock from
the tunnels with sand and cement

To give a superstrong
blend of concrete.

Next, they pour the mix
into precision-built molds

And leave it to set
at 113 degrees fahrenheit.

To keep up with demand,
carlo has to produce

42 pieces of tubbing
every single day.

A train transports the completed
pieces of tubbing 8.6 miles

Down to giac's team
at the tunnel face.

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator:
The journey gets longer

As the tunnel grows deeper
into the alps,

And because
they move so slowly,

Trains must leave
every single hour,

24 hours a day,
7 days a week

To keep pace
with the digging machines.

Once the tubbing arrives,

Giac's team races to fit
in place in the tunnel wall.

♪

Each piece of tubbing
should hold firm

For the next 200 years.

♪

At the opposite end of
the railway tunnel in austria,

Engineers are tackling
a very different challenge.

One of the biggest problems
tunnel engineers face

Is determining what rock
lies directly ahead

Of the tunneling machine.

When you are dealing
with a base tunnel,

You're dealing with some degree
of unknown geology.

It is vital to have
a pilot tunnel.

Narrator:
The bigger digging machines,

Such as flavia,

Follow a smaller 16-foot-wide
exploratory tunnel

That runs underneath and in
between the two main tunnels.

The italian-bound
exploratory tunnel

Is 13 miles
into its 18-mile journey.

It's being drilled by this
special digging machine

That is open
rather than closed.

This allows the team to see
and inspect the bare rock.

Our tbm is pretty much naked,
you know?

You can see all the parts.

Narrator:
Being exposed to the bare rock

Means it's tough work
for foreman babyuk

And his team of specialists.

[ wrench thuds ]

Narrator: But the team's efforts
will pay off

When the main tunnels catch up.

♪

It's now early summer.

At the italian entrance
to the tunnel,

The first of the two large
tunnel-boring machines

Grinds steadily
towards the austrian border.

Workers here are also racing
to assemble

The second digging machine.

♪

But just south of the main site,
a short section of tunnel

Means engineers can't use
their lengthy tbms.

♪

They have no option
but to use powerful explosives.

[ explosion ]

♪

♪

Narrator: In central europe,

Engineers are digging
the longest railway tunnel

In the world through the alps
between Italy and austria.

[ speaks foreign language ]

Narrator: On the italian side
of the project,

Part of the main tunnel
is too short

To justify
using a huge boring machine,

So geologist stefano
and his team of specialists

Have to use an alternative --
powerful explosives.

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator:
When a section of tunnel

Is too small to use a tbm,

The team uses
explosives instead.

They pack
880 pounds of dynamite

Into over 100
precision-bored holes

In the tunnel face by hand.

[ explosion ]

They detonate them in
a carefully controlled pattern.

This removes the rock
they want gone

While leaving
the tunnel walls intact.

Finally, they spray
on quick-drying concrete

To stabilize the tunnel.

By triggering up to two blasts
every 24 hours,

They can dig 32 feet
of new tunnel every single day.

♪

First, engineers use this huge
laser-guided drilling machine

To create the holes
the explosives will sit in.

♪

♪

They have to drill each hole
with millimeter precision

To create the perfect blast.

If they get it wrong,

The rock won't break away
from the face properly,

Exposing the team
to dangerous overhangs.

Once jumbo is finished
drilling the holes,

It's time to bring
in the explosives.

♪

Demolition expert carmelo
has been blowing things up

For a living
for over 20 years.

He's responsible for
the 880 pounds of dynamite

Used in today's blast.

Dealing with
this much explosives

Requires nerves of steel.

♪

Carmelo and his team
carefully pack the explosives

Into the holes
drilled by jumbo.

♪

They will set off each charge
with a millisecond delay

From the one next to it.

This should break the rock
into small chunks

Rather than big
unwieldy slabs.

Carmelo himself
connects the fuse.

[ indistinct conversations ]

♪

Narrator: With the charges set,

The team retreats
to a safe position

And waits for the final signal
that they are clear to blast.

[ speaking foreign language ]

[ explosion ]

♪

Narrator: Stefano must check
the condition of the rock face

Before any further
blasting can be done.

He hunts for potentially
dangerous cracks.

Stefano needs to get close to
the freshly exposed rock face

To make his assessment.

There's a high risk
of falling rock here.

All work is suspended while
stefano assesses the rock face.

Stefano gives the all clear.

[ speaks foreign language ]

Narrator: Next, the team uses
diggers and dump trucks

To remove the 400 tons
of broken rock

And take it to be recycled
into tubbing rings.

♪

It takes four hours to
completely clear the tunnel.

Finally, they spray
on quick-drying concrete

Called shotcrete
to stabilize the tunnel walls

Until a thicker concrete wall
is installed,

16 feet of new tunnel
in just 16 hours.

For the blast team,
it's a good day's work.

♪

12 years into this
titanic tunneling mission,

The teams on both the italian
and austrian sides

Are making good progress.

The two won't meet in the middle
for another two years,

But making sure they line
up perfectly

When they do
is a huge challenge.

On a tunnel this long,

The slightest wrong turn
can have huge consequences.

When you're tunneling
through a mountain,

There's no external line
of sight

To check you're going
in the right direction.

You're tunneling in the dark.

♪

♪

Narrator: In central europe on
the austrian side of the alps,

Tunnel surveyor patrick young
is in charge of making sure

The exploratory tunnel
stays on course.

It's a huge responsibility.

Young:
The drilling machine is a jet.

The pilot is the driver,
but we're the navigator.

We're telling him where to go,

Which way,
left, right, up, down.

We're controlling the work,

Making sure it's all moving
in the right direction.

Narrator:
This is how he does it.

First,
engineers use satellite gps

To map the mountain
down to 1/4-inch accuracy,

Creating reference
points on the surface

And precisely plotting
the route of the tunnel,

But deep underground,
they can't use gps.

Without knowing exactly where
the tunneling machine is,

It could easily veer
off course.

To solve this problem
as the machine digs,

Surveyors use a series
of lasers

To take super accurate
measurements of the distance

And angles it has traveled,

Leading all the way
to the reference points

On the surface.

From these measurements,
engineers calculate

The route the tunneling machines
have taken

And keep the drivers on course,

But they will only know if
they've got their calculations

Right when both tunneling teams
eventually meet in the middle.

Patrick and his team
must constantly

Check the tunneling machine's
progress as it moves forward.

♪

They work 24/7.

♪

If the tunneling machine moves
without accurate measurements,

It will quickly
drift off course.

Young: As a tunnel surveyor,
it is quite a lot of pressure.

It's not the easiest
environment to work in.

There's explosions.

There's trucks and diggers

Driving in every direction.

Narrator: Patrick has mounted
laser-surveying devices

Along the length
of the tunnel.

As the tunneling machine
advances,

He has to shift them
to keep up with it.

Young: Going to go to the very
front of the machine now,

And we have
to rebuild the laser.

At least once a day,
maybe twice a day,

We have to come down here
and scoot the laser forward.

♪

Narrator: Patrick quickly moves
the laser forward

And starts his precision
measurements of checks

And double-checks.

When the laser
hits this target,

Plate sends the information

Back into the main cabin

Where the driver then sees

All the information
that he needs.

The work we do is vital.

Without our laser,
in a very quick time,

It's going to go
in the wrong direction.

Narrator:
After a few final checks,

Patrick confirms
that the control cabin

Is receiving
the correct data,

And the tunneling machine
can move forward

Knowing it's on
the right path.

Young: We completed everything
for today.

We're perfectly on track.

Our little paper airplane
means we're receiving data.

The machine is three centimeters
above the tunnel axis.

That's how they want it to be.

♪

Narrator: As the tunnels burrow
deeper through the mountain,

Engineers face another
herculean challenge.

Once the tunnel is complete

And trains
are running through here,

Engineers need to be able
to rescue passengers

In an emergency.

The longer the train tunnel,

The harder
the rescue mission becomes,

And this will be
the longest underground railway

In the world.

When you bring passengers
in a tunnel this long,

You need to think about safety,

And of course
the major threat is fire.

Narrator: One of the worst
tunnel fires in recent history

Occurred on the morning
of March 24, 1999.

A truck catches fire
at the center

Of the seven-mile-long
mont blanc road tunnel.

Temperatures soar to over
1,800 degrees fahrenheit,

Destroying vehicles
and the tunnel lining.

It takes firefighters
almost three days

To extinguish the inferno.

The fire claims 35 lives.

Tunnel builders today have to
assume the worst and plan

For any emergency.

The brenner base tunnel is going
to be the longest in the world,

So if the worst happens, how can
engineers keep passengers safe?

♪

♪

Narrator: 3,000 feet below
the surface of the alps,

Engineers are building

The longest railway tunnel
in the world.

They're working to overcome
a critical challenge.

If a fire occurs inside
the railway tunnel,

How do you keep
passengers safe

When the nearest exit
could be 18 1/2 miles away?

The overall idea is to get rid
of the smoke,

To get people away
from the smoke,

Which is one of
the main hazards

That we have once
a fire occurs in a tunnel.

Narrator: This is
how they plan to do it.

Engineers are building
three emergency stations,

Called refuges,

12 1/2 miles apart deep
in the heart of the mountain.

If a fire breaks out
on board a train,

The driver won't stop until
they reach the nearest refuge.

Here an escape route leads
through fireproof doors

Into cross tunnels.

These open out into a 1,500-foot
central refuge tunnel.

To stop the refuge from
filling up with toxic fumes,

Special ventilation fans

And ducts extract the smoke
from the train.

They safely draw it away
from the passengers

Through a separate channel
overhead.

With the fire securely sealed
in one tunnel,

Rescue workers use
the second tunnel

To transport passengers
from the refuge to safety.

♪

Rosella audino is part
of the team

Building the italian
safety station.

Rosella has to inspect
and sign off all work

On the surrounding tunnels

Before they can start
building the emergency station.

With this system in place,

Passengers can access
the emergency station quickly

And wait in safety
until a rescue train gets there.

This ingenious safety system has
added $43 million per station

To the cost of the tunnel,
but in a tunnel this long,

It's essential
if the worst does happen.

♪

On the italian side
of the alps,

The first of the two main
tunneling machines

Is already 1/2 mile
into its 8.6-mile journey.

♪

Now, after four months of work

Assembling the second
tunneling machine,

They are gearing up
to set that off, too.

It's a huge moment
for project lead giorgio

And the whole team.

Today is a special day
in our project.

This is the day
when the last tbm

Starts to the border.

Narrator: Tunnel managers have
organized a massive celebration

To launch the last
tunneling machine

On its epic 8.6-mile journey.

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator:
In a time-honored tradition,

A priest christens
the tunnel-boring machine.

They will call her virginia.

It's taken the team
more than 2,000 hours

To get this
massive machine ready.

Finally, it's time
to start virginia up

And break into the rock wall.

[ speaking foreign language ]

♪

[ cork pops ]

[ applause ]

Narrator: Now all tunneling
machines are digging.

They won't stop until
they break through

At the italian-austria border
beneath the heart of the alps.

Everybody that has worked
on the project

Takes pride
in what they have done.

Narrator: This megaproject is
a once-in-a-generation endeavor.

When the railway tunnel
opens in 2028,

Giorgio and his team
will have excavated

More than 140 miles of tunnel.

Over 200 high-speed trains a day
will form a vital new artery

From the north of europe
to the south,

Slashing journey times for
freight and passengers.

Thanks to the longest
railway tunnel in the world,

Traveling across the alps
will never be the same again.

♪