Tunnel through the Alps

On the morning of March 22, 2007, at the northern end of the Loetschberg tunnel near Mitholz, Swiss engineers completed the final rail meters across the Alps. This railroad track can change the face of Europe's traffic.

For centuries, the Alpes range has been a trade barrier between South and North Europe. Most goods transported through the Alps by heavy trucks and special cargo increased in the last two decades.

In 1990 it was 40 million tons, in 2001 it was 90 million tons, and it is estimated that by 2010 this figure will be even bigger. Transporting and loading and unloading goods have caused traffic jams, air pollution and traffic accidents, there have been fires in the past 10 years that have killed many people.

The new road will shorten the journey time to Zurich - Milan spectacularly

Switzerland acts as a major focal point in cargo traffic in Europe with more than 4,000 heavy trucks passing through the Alpes region by road every day. In 1994, Switzerland opened a referendum on transporting goods by train. Of course, this ambitious plan cannot be realized after one night, including two parallel tunnels and will be completed in 2015. This is one of the largest construction projects in the world.

The Loetschberg tunnel is 34km long and the 60km Gotthard tunnel - also the longest tunnel in the world - will form a route through the Alps - the majestic natural barrier of Europe. Loetschberg is scheduled to be put into use in 2007, and Gotthard takes about 10 years to complete.

Deeper than 2km in the Alps, the tunnel will be 500m above sea level, allowing trains to run at 240km / g and shorten the travel time from Zurich to Milan from 4 hours to 2, 5 hours. The scale of the project is extremely large with 2,000 people working directly in the tunnel 24 hours / day and 365 days / year.

In addition to the two main tunnels, construction workers also dug sub-tunnels for emergencies and service of goods and equipment. Huge fans are installed to ensure air supply and cooling because natural temperatures are more than 30OC . 'Above us 2.5km is the Alps, we are under the pressure of millions of tons of rock, which has increased the pressure and temperature,' said engineer Arthur Schmid. It also means that every few meters of digging a tunnel, the 'natural mother' tries to close it. Along the length of the tunnel, steel rings are inserted to reinforce otherwise all will collapse.

Building tunnels is an extremely difficult job, requiring a lot of modern equipment. In the beginning, people had to do blasting, then the most advanced and largest drills would work, the stones were cut into blocks and unloaded. In good conditions, it is possible to dig 40m per day but the conditions here are not favorable, the workers are always faced with geological problems, the construction work is more difficult, even days only half a meter is excavated. And so the price will rise. The estimated cost to build these two buildings was originally $ 8 billion, so far this cost has reached $ 15 billion.

Two twin tunnel routes are part of the transportation policy
goods by train: Loetschberg plans to use it in 2007,
Gotthard operated in 2015. The project cost more than $ 15 billion

Although the construction of these rails brings significant social benefits, the Swiss people have no regrets. Architect Arthur Loretz said: 'This tunnel has made the Alps disappear! Because if you drive from Zurich to Milan you will be able to see beautiful landscapes, but by the tunnel the Alpes is just a black hole. ' However, he did not deny that: 'Let's think, this end of the tunnel is Italian but at the other end people speak in German. Nature has separated us but these roads bring us close together. '

CONSCIENCE