Switzerland opened the world’s longest rail tunnel last week after almost two decades of construction.

 

The 57km Gotthard Base Tunnel – a twin bore structure that took 17 years to build beneath the Alps – will significantly reduce journey times for passenger and freight trains between northern and southern Europe. The structure is also the deepest rail tunnel in the world.

 

Its official opening was marked with a ceremony, attended by various European leaders. President of the Swiss Confederation Johann Schneider-Ammann told guests: “The base tunnel provides us with a faster link through the Alps and brings North and South even closer together.

 

“This is an important step for Switzerland and equally for our neighbours and the rest of the continent. People and goods can travel more quickly and cities like Stuttgart, Zurich, Lugano and Milan are better linked.”

 

The £8.5Bn tunnel will come into scheduled operation in December and carry up to 260 freight trains and 65 passenger trains per day at timetabled speeds of 100km/h and 200km/h respectively. The tunnel runs straight and has virtually no gradients to allow these fast line speeds.

 

During construction the tunnellers had to bore through a range of different rock strata, from hard granite to crumbly sedimentary rock. A total of 152km of tunnel has been bored for the two main tunnels as well as the safety and ventilation shafts.

 

Tunnel boring machines carried out 80% of the work and conventional blasting methods were used for the remaining 20%. In total 28.2Mt of excavated material was removed from beneath the Alps and at the height of construction around 2400 people were working on the project.

 

(Photo: Gottardo)