St Barbara's Day at the ElbX project in Wewelsfleth: Ceremonial christening of the tunnel and the tunnel boring machine for the SuedLink Elbe crossing
4 December is a very special day for tunnellers: on the name day of the patron saint of miners, St Barbara's Day is celebrated at underground construction sites around the world. This was also the case at the SuedLink ElbX tunnel construction site in Wewelsfleth, Schleswig-Holstein. On this important day, PORR and the client TenneT TSO GmbH honoured the patron saint and celebrated the naming of the tunnel and the tunnel boring machine together with political representatives.
After a musical welcome by the Ruhrkohle Choir, Programme Director Dr Stefan Mirschel (TenneT) and Dr Thorsten Weiner, Technical Division Manager Tunnelling Germany at PORR, addressed the guests before Tobias Goldschmidt, Minister for Energy Transition, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, gave a speech on energy policy.
The ceremony began with the presentation of good wishes, during which representatives from the region placed commemorative coins on the statue of St Barbara. Among the well-wishers were the tunnel patron Jette Waldinger-Thiering, Delf Bolten, Mayor of Wewelsfleth, and Bernd Tietje, Mayor of Wischhafen.
The event reached its ceremonial climax with the naming of the tunnel boring machine and the tunnel. After TenneT employee Julia Andresen christened the tunnel boring machine ELSA, Jette Waldinger-Thiering, Vice President of the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament, christened the tunnel "Jette Tunnel" by unveiling the name plate.
The placement of the Barbara statue marked the ceremonial conclusion of the event. She is intended to protect the tunnelling experts in their work and continue to avert dangers from the construction site.
