HIGH SPEED THROUGH THE ALPS Crossing the Alps has always posed a challenge. Constructing the new alpine rail link was no exception, as Robert Williams reports.
T
he Alps have remained a cultural and trading barrier across Europe for centuries. Switzerland, at the crossroads of Europe, has seen the barrier diminish and traffic continue to grow. A motorway construction programme and the opening of the Gotthard road tunnel in 1980 greatly encouraged the movement of freight by road. But growing environmental concern about increasing numbers of lorries was joined by the shock of the multiple fatalities in the Gotthard and Mont Blanc road tunnel accidents. The Swiss are among the most enthusiastic rail users on the planet: the average Swiss person travels roughly two thousand kilometres by train each year. One reason why the construction of a new line through the Alps has special significance is that rail14 Industry Europe
ways have always been a factor in national cohesion, bringing the different language regions closer together. The hope is that the new alpine railway crossing will safeguard the environment and improve people’s quality of life, promoting the transfer of heavy goods traffic from road to rail and offering a real alternative to journeys by car or plane. The new rail link will lead to significantly shorter travel times, cutting an hour off the current three-and-a-half hour trip from Zurich to Milan, and will partially accommodate the projected increase in passenger and freight traffic through the Alps. The Sfr20 billion tunnel construction is led by AlpTransit Gotthard GA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Swiss Federal Railways. At the heart of the project are two ‘base’ tunnels, the Lötschberg, (34.6 km/21.5 miles long) and the
St Gotthard (57 km/35.5 miles long). Because they go through the base of the mountain and do not need to climb, the line can be much straighter than in the current tunnels.
Longest in the world The Gotthard Base Tunnel connects Erstfeld, in the Swiss canton of Uri, with Bodio, in the Swiss canton of Ticino. It consists of two parallel tunnels deep under the mountains, 40 metres apart. At two emergency stops inside the tunnel, travellers can leave the train in the event of any problems. The tunnels are 57 kilometres long, constituting the longest railway tunnel in the world. The two tunnels are connected every 320 metres by a cross passage. The two parallel tunnels allow for faster excavation and the shortening of the construction time by two to three years. The
