Huge tunnel network creates new railway link through the Alps

Thousands of feet under the Swiss Alps, a new high-speed, high-capacity railway is close to completion.Everything about this $11.3 billion project is on a grand scale; at their deepest point, the GBT's twin tunnels are around 8,000 feet below the Alpine peaks.

Deep within the tunnels, two cavernous"multi-function stations" at Sedrun and Faido allow trains to cross between the two tunnels while maintenance is taking place or in case of emergencies. Remarkably, by avoiding the famous spirals of the old mountain route, the GBT shortens the distance between Zurich and Milan by 25 miles. Shorter journey times meant that passenger numbers increased by 30% in the months after it opened.

Whereas the mountain route had -- and still has -- the power to distract even the most jaded passenger, the primary sensations of the base tunnel are the sudden change of ambient sound, and a noticeable acceleration when the new section is reached. For regular travelers, heads buried in spreadsheets, answering emails or watching movies, the transit through the GBT barely registers nowadays, so routine has this engineering marvel become.

Eventually, this is expected to more than double the route's annual transport capacity from 20 million to around 50 million tonnes.Keith Barrow, editor of Today's Railway Europe, is under no illusions about the value of the new railway. To protect its sensitive Alpine regions from increasing road traffic, and the even greater traffic expected in the future, the Swiss Federation is working to transfer freight from road to rail wherever possible.

When the 39.7-mile, $6.6 billion tunnel system is completed in 2028, it will take the GBT's crown as the world's longest rail tunnel. It will provide a flatter, more direct route under the Tirol Alps and allow freight trains to bypass the city of Innsbruck. Journeys from Innsbruck to Bolzano in Italy will be cut from two hours to just 50 minutes.A Swiss Federal Railways Giruno train, built for the new Gotthard services, emerges from the northern portal of the 35-mile base tunnel.

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