World Construction Network

Daily Newsletter

07 August 2023

Daily Newsletter

National railway company Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has awarded a contract to IBD, a joint venture (JV), for a substantial lot at the Ligerz-Twann rail line extension project in Switzerland.

Led by Implenia, the IBD JV's partners include Bernasconi and De Luca. The JV will oversee the Lot 2 Tunnel Ligerz.

The entire order volume is SFr220m ($251.60m), with Implenia's stake valued at approximately SFr150m.

The order comprises a 2.1km-long double-track tunnel, with roughly 1,850m built using mining technologies and approximately 250m built using open-pit construction, as well as concrete cladding and railway equipment.

Furthermore, four escape tunnels, a 114m-long viaduct for the N5 motorway exit, and several other buildings will be constructed. The dug and excavated material is transported via ship while the current railway line is being demolished and rebuilt.

The objective is to remove the final railway bottleneck on the Jura foot route between Lausanne and Biel. A new double-track tunnel is under construction due to the existing restricted space between the lake and the hill, where the national route N5 and the cantonal road run.

Implenia's division head for Civil Engineering Christian Späth said: “We look forward to carrying out this large and complex rail infrastructure project together with our consortium partners and to once again demonstrating our many years of experience and expertise in this area. We wish the entire project team an accident-free construction period.”

ESG 2.0 marks a shift towards stricter environmental rules

ESG is moving into a different era, which we call ESG 2.0. While ESG 1.0 was driven by voluntary corporate action, spurred by pressure from activist consumers and investors, ESG 2.0 is being driven by a new wave of government policies. The EU has taken the regulatory lead, with rules introduced or in the pipeline that will price emissions, regulate the use of the terms ‘ESG’ and ‘sustainability’ in marketing materials, and make ESG reporting mandatory. The US has taken a different approach, favoring less regulation and more financial support in the form of tax breaks for clean industry (renewables plus nuclear and hydrogen). China is planning to expand its emissions trading system to more sectors, decarbonize its heavy industry, and ramp up its use of renewables. The new policy direction is mainly motivated by the ambition to hit net zero emissions targets. But on top of this, governments are now competing for clean industry and trying to challenge China’s leadership on the production of the world’s green technologies such as solar panels and batteries, as well as the production and refinement of materials needed for energy transition such as lithium. These driving forces are leading to policy that will impact every sector, not just heavy industry, and will keep ESG near the top of the regulatory agenda over the longer term.