RBS tunnel breakthrough at Bern station, 2023

Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn RBS is part of the national public transport system and the Bern S-Bahn. It transports 26.2 million passengers a year on four railroad lines and 18 bus routes. RBS is one of the busiest private railroads in Switzerland. The large number of passengers and a tight timetable require a great deal of commitment from all employees.

Initial situation/requirements:

As an existing customer, also in the area of fixed installations, RBS asked us for THE milestone in the major project "new RBS railroad station Bern": the breakthrough between the access tunnels and the future platform hall. The celebration was held at the site of the event with the main players in the project, the construction workers involved from the two construction companies Frutiger AG and Marti AG, as well as around 350 invited guests. Federal Councillor Albert Rösti addressed the guests.

Kilchenmann was responsible for the entire spectrum of technical planning, coordination and implementation for this project.

Technical implementation:

A camera was placed directly at the drill head in the tunnel and the image was transmitted via livestream on the RBS website with the current images. A screen for the audience on site was used for everyone to see what was happening (live image). To ensure that the image in the tunnel was bright enough, the event crew installed the necessary lighting.

Pyrotechnics in the form of Sparkular were set off to further enhance the surprise effect. The fireworks machine with fountain effect is completely safe, practically smoke-free, odorless and therefore ideal for the tunnel conditions.

Of course, we also provided the perfect ambience on site. Platforms, microphones, sound systems and lighting in the adjacent area were provided by our dedicated team.

An incoming train was projected onto the tunnel wall using morphing technology. Morphing is a computer-aided special effect in which two images merge into one without a visible step.
A well-coordinated team of around 25 dedicated specialists was deployed for the set-up, the technical rehearsals, the event itself and the subsequent dismantling.