Montréal Set to Host Global Tunneling Community at WTC 2026

The WTC World Tunnel Congress each year is the flagship event of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA). Hosting the ITA WTC2026 this year is Canada. From 15 to 21 May, industry professionals from across the globe will gather for a rendezvous in Montréal.

Canada is one of the most active nations in the world of underground infrastructure engineering and construction. From transportation to water management, hydro, and underground storage facilities, billions are being spent on current and planned projects in cities and provinces across the country.

As a result, Canada is open for business! Canada is attracting international engineering expertise and services to compliment a home base of world class knowledge and technical know-how developed over decades of infrastructure construction. Through its rich history of tunneling and underground space development, Canada has built a legacy of undertaking bold and ambitious projects. From using the largest ever hard rock TBM for the Niagara hydro conveyance tunnel in the 2000s, to the current multi-modal road-rail Fraser River immersed tube crossing in Vancouver, Canada is today building and planning a comprehensive program of major drinking water and wastewater projects, as well as new road, rail and metro links.

As well as the largest ever sold-out WTC exhibition hall of Sponsors and Exhibitors, ITA WTC2026 brings together representatives of the 81 Member Nations of the ITA and builds a Technical Programme of 730 presentations drawn from 1,200 global abstracts, the most submitted for any WTC, to chart all aspects of the worldwide tunneling industry and promote business networking among clients, consultants, contractors, manufacturers and material suppliers, all ready to realise outstanding ambitions.

The Plenary Opening Session on Monday morning, May 18, sets the scene with Welcome Addresses by WTC2026 Chair André J Rancourt; Tunnelling Association of Canada President Bruce Downing; ITA President Andrea Pigorini; and with a set of Keynote Speeches by industry experts and leaders of global client organizations:

• Renowned Canadian urban planner Larry Beasley
• Remo Grandori, a specialist in the field of TBM design and excavation who will present this year’s ITA Sir Alan Muir Wood Memorial Lecture
• Stephane Jean of Hydro Québec
• Daniel Farina of institutional investor giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), and
• Karina Lange, IAEA nuclear waste disposal specialist and Scientific Secretary for the IAEA Underground Research Facilities Network.