ITA Awards 2025 Finalists Announced

After rigorous adjudication by the Panel of Judges, the Finalists of the 2025 series of the ITA Tunnelling Awards has been announced. From a short list of 51 entries from 27 countries, 25 outstanding entries representing 13 different countries are the Finalists across seven Award categories.

Major Project of the Year more than €500 million

• Shanghai Suburban Railway Airport Link Line, China
• Shanghai Urban Core Area Ultra-Long and Mega Northern Cross Passage Project, China
• Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link Immersed Tunnel, China

Project of the Year between €100-€500 million

• Highspeed railway – the Long Itchington Wood twin bored tunnels, United Kingdom
• Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Yellow Line Tunnel Rehabilitation Project, USA
• Yang zong tunnel of the Kunming (Fude Overpass) – Yiliang Expressway in Yunnan Province, China

Project of the Year up to €100 million

• Hongyancun Station of Chongqing Rail Transit Line 9, China
• Shield tunnel project of the Macau Light Rail Extension to Hengqin Line, China
• Subsea tunnel construction off western Singapore, Singapore

Technical Innovation of the Year

• A world first on Toulouse Metro Line B: very low-carbon concrete segments with metakaolin, France
• Photomonitoring for Tunnel Convergence Monitoring with IRIS Software, Italy
• Tun.Re.Fit. – Renewable energy retrofitting for existing tunnels, Italy

Product/Equipment Innovation of the Year

• 2-boom full automated shotcrete machine for drill+blast tunnelling, Japan
• Polymer innovation: A new water treatment plant and site wide recycled water, United Kingdom
• High-pressure abrasive water jet-mechanical combined rock-breaking shield TBM (AWJ-STBM), China
• Trackless transportation system for large-diameter and super-long TBM-bored tunnels, China

Elevated Thinking Underground: Shaping the Future

• Vinnie and the metro – Inspiring the next generation of tunnel builders through storytelling, Sweden
• Tunnelling for a better life in poor regions: Daliangshan No.1 super long highway tunnel, China
• Venizelou Metro Station, Thessaloniki, Greece

Young Tunneller of the Year

• Aida Santos Santamaria, Spain
• Akx Malik, Inda
• Andrea Marchioni, Italy
• Fang Lin, China
• Helena Castellvi Linde, Spain
• Patricia Lamas, Belgium

The Finalists will present details their projects at a day-long symposium hosted in Belgrade, Serbia, in October in collaboration with the Serbian Association for Tunnels and Underground Structures and its Southeastern European Tunnelling Conference. The Award results will be presented at a gala celebration on the evening of Oct. 1.

RELATED: 2024 Tunnel Achievement Award: Jefferson Barracks Tunnel