Gotthard Base Tunnel, Switzerland

Ehrbar, H. 2008. Gotthard base tunnel, Switzerland experiences with different tunneling methods, International South American Tunnelling. 

I The Gotthard Base Tunnel network is being built under the Alps from Switzerland to Milan, Italy. At about 35 miles, the two-way tunnel will be the longest in the world and will reduce the time to make the trip by automobile from 3.5 hours to 1 hour. High-speed trains traveling at speeds of 155 miles per hour will make more than two hundred trips through the tunnel per day. 

An example for such a situation is given by the new deep Alpine tunnels, which are being constructed in Switzerland. The AlpTransit (NEAT) project comprises two long deep (overburden up to 2.5 Ion) tunnels, the Gotthard and Lotschberg Base Tunnels, which drain substantial quantities of warm water from the... 

Switzerland presently follows the traffic policy of shifting transport by heavy trucks on roads to railway transport. Towards this goal, the capacity of the main traffic axis (N S) is now being greatly expanded by the AlpTransit project. The key elements of this project are the two railway base tunnels the Lotschberg tunnel in the west and the Gotthard tunnel in the east (see Fig. 7). The rock overburden can reach 2.5 km, and the lengths are considerable 57 km... 

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