Held on 15–16 May 2026 as part of the World Tunnel Congress 2026 in Montréal, Canada, the ITACET Training course once again demonstrated its role as a flagship educational event for the international tunnelling community. Organised by the Tunnelling Association of Canada (TAC) in partnership with the ITACET Foundation and the ITA-CET Committee, the two-day course welcomed more than 100 participants from around the world.
Under the theme “Building the Future – Delivering Tunnel Projects for the Next Generation”, the programme was designed to provide young professionals and experienced practitioners alike with practical knowledge, international perspectives, and the latest developments shaping modern tunnelling.
The course was structured around four key themes covering the complete lifecycle of tunnel projects:
- Site investigation and geocharacterisation, highlighting the importance of understanding ground conditions, planning investigation programmes, and translating geological information into reliable tunnel design.
- Excavation and ground control methodology, focusing on the selection of excavation methods, tunnel support systems, and practical lessons learned from projects worldwide.
- Contracting and project delivery, exploring procurement strategies, risk allocation, collaborative delivery models, and case studies from major international infrastructure projects.
- Safety, sustainability and innovation, addressing tunnel rehabilitation, embodied carbon, safety in design and construction, and the growing role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in tunnelling engineering.
The programme featured an outstanding line-up of internationally recognised experts from industry, academia, project owners and ITA Working Groups, who shared their experience through technical presentations, project case studies and interactive panel discussions. The networking event held after the first day provided participants with an excellent opportunity to continue discussions with lecturersand colleagues in an informal setting, strengthening professional connections across the global tunnelling community.
Beyond the technical content, the course reflected ITACET’s mission of supporting continuous professional development and encouraging knowledge transfer across generations. By combining practical engineering experience with emerging topics such as sustainable project delivery and digital innovation, the training equipped participants with valuable insights to help address the challenges of future underground infrastructure projects.
