GOTTHARD BASE TUNNEL, SWITZERLAND EXPERIENCES WITH DIFFERENT TUNNELLING METHODS Heinz Ehrbar1 Abstract – At the time when it is completed, the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland, with a total length of 57 km, will be the longest railway tunnel in the world. In 1996, this zone was penetrated. A further difficult zone awaited the tunnel builders on this stretch - the Piora Basin – a funnel-shaped formation filled with sugargrained dolomite and water, which reaches deep into the rock of the mountain range. The Gotthard Base Tunnel extends from the north portal at Erstfeld, in the canton of Uri, to the south portal at Bodio, in the canton of Ticino. Ab Ende 2016 werden die ersten Züge durch den neuen Basistunnel eilen. AlpTransit, Gotthard Base Tunnel, Switzerland The route over the Gotthard is part of the international north-south alpine transversal. Gotthard Base Tunnel, Switzerland. The European transport concept aims to transfer part of that road traffic onto the railways, in particular in Alpine regions. construction contracts included items for systematic advance. On June 16 and September 16, 2009, the construction site teams in the north reached their destinations in Amsteg after only 18 months, that is, six months ahead of schedule. There are three such access tunnel and supply caverns at the Gotthard giga site – at Amsteg in the north, at the Sedrun intermediate heading in the middle and at Faido in the south. Forming the heart of the New Alpine Transversal (NEAT), it brings Switzerland and Europe closer together. They hit on hard rock with no water pressure. The … The machines also had to deal with changeable geological conditions in the south on the stretch from Bodio to Faido, which impaired tunnelling performances. 6 months. From an engineering and logistics perspective, this tunnel represents a benchmark for future projects of the century. At 57 km long the tunnel is the longest railway tunnel in the world and the paradigm of modern tunnel technology. These 600-meter-long ‘worms’ lay drainage pipes, install sealing systems and concrete the vaults in twelve-meter stages. The Gotthard Base Tunnel was not drilled from north to south, nor the other way around. A 100% Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) subsidiary, AlpTransit Gotthard, was established in May 1998 to deliver the project for the 57km (35.4 miles) Gotthard Base Tunnel. Between Erstfeld and Bodio, Switzerland, the Gotthard Base Tunnel crosses a gigantic mountain range, approximately 500 meters above sea level. Without ventilation, the temperature inside the tunnel system is 46C (115F). More information » Ceneri Base Tunnel. At the end of February 2010, 420 m of the eastern bore and 250 m of the western one had been completely concreted. The new highest point will be at the same altitude as the city of Bern, i.e. Today the Gotthard Base Tunnel connects Erstfeld and Bodio at a length of 57 kilometers. With a rock overlay of up to 2,300 metres, the Gotthard Base Tunnel is the world's deepest railway tunnel; it also has virtually no gradients, with the highest point lying at 550 metres above sea level. All-clear: The Piora Basin was not as challenging as expected, In cases of emergency trains can stop in gigantic underground stations, Tunnelling safely through the "ordeal" of the Piora Basin. Tunnels have been built through the Gotthard-Range for more than three centuries. No dream. truly at the foot of the St.Gotthard mountain, two single-lane tunnel tubes will cross the Alpine range from valley floor to valley floor, as it were, on an almost level course. Without success. 19 inclined drills were made from the exploratory tunnel to the vicinity of the future base tunnel, finally giving the engineers the all clear. When the Base Tunnel officially opened on June 1, 2016, the Gotthard - the barrier between north and south - was finally conquered. These comprised the track, catenary, electric power supply, cables, telecommunication and radio systems, safety and automation systems, and control systems. This is why freight transport is to be shifted to rail. This truly great feat is part of Switzerland’s plan to transfer as much freight transport from road to rail as possible, as a way of protecting the environment. The Gotthard Base Tunnel, constructed from 1999 to 2010 and open to traffic in 2016, is one of the most ambitious tunneling projects in the world. Scope The two NEAT axes at the Gotthard and Lötschberg mountains will more than double freight capacity from its current 20 million to around 50 million tonnes per year. “We are working together with our partners on developing Europe’s infrastructure, even though we are not members of the EU,” he continues. With the 2 times 57 kilometer long epoch-making project, Switzerland is connecting northern and southern Europe by rail through the Alps. The loose grains of rock turned out to be exposed to the enormous pressure of around 150 bar. Just before the end of the lot they met with a geological obstacle – kakirite. Thereby the ingenious safety system from Siemens ensures fast and very safe travel. This degree of accuracy is comparable to a marksman hitting a 1 euro coin at a distance of two kilometers. For this purpose, in the north as well as in the south, auxiliary structures such as bridges and underpasses were built to provide a link from the existing SFR line to the tunnel. This vision is becoming a reality. When the Base Tunnel officially opened on June 1, 2016, the Gotthard - the barrier between north and south - was finally conquered. Here, passengers will be able to move quickly from one tunnel to the other – each of the two tubes serves as an escape route for its twin. Luckily enough, this event had almost no impact whatsoever on the project schedule. But a construction log can also include unexpected positive reports. Browse 284 gotthard base tunnel stock photos and images available, or search for train tunnel or cattle enclosure to find more great stock photos and pictures. Mechanized tunnelling is successfully completed in the north. Freight trains will travel at speeds of up to 160km/h – twice as fast as now. The Gotthard base tunnel is 57km and in some places 2.3km from the surface. The main tunnel is 57 km long and consists of two singletrack tubes, which are 40 metres apart and connected to each other every 325 metres by a cross-passage. Gotthard base Tunnel. Both TBMs had deviated from the ideal line, horizontally by 4 millimeters and vertically by 8 millimeters – millimeter precision in the truest sense. The Gotthard Base Tunnel will be the longest tunnel in the world. Today the Gotthard Base Tunnel connects Erstfeld and Bodio at a length of 57 kilometers. Cities are reaching a new dimension and need forward-looking concepts for urban infrastructures. The first road tunnel is opened to traffic and connects Göschenen with Airolo. With the addition of all the connecting passages, access adits and shafts, the complete tunnel system measures around 152 km. With a length of 57 kilometers and a maximum altitude of 550 meters above sea level, i.e. All risks were dealt with, all setbacks were overcome, all emotional rollercoaster rides were survived. Since beginning their mountain-munching journey in 2003, the cutting wheels of the four Herrenknecht machines have ‘swallowed’ around 10.5 million cubic meters of rock. Switzerland's Gotthard Base Tunnel stretches for more than 35 miles and runs a mile and a half deep under a mountain range at some points. The most impressive part of the new traffic route through the Alps is the Base tunnel under the Got-thard, which is planned to handle mixed traffic, that is high speed passenger trains (up to 250 km/h) as well as slower freight trains (up to 160 km/h). The branching tunnel will also allow trains to change from one tube to another during operation. Thanks to the longest rail tunnel in the world, trains now race through the Alps and scarcely have to climb - setting a milestone in transport and for the mobility of the future. Already more than half the world's population lives in cities. The underground temperature was up to 46 °C. Access and supply tunnels had to be built, and enormous underground caverns had to be excavated to serve as bases for the tunnelling activities or drill & blast operations. At the same time, the tunnel builders excavated a 50-meter-long tunnel from the east tube to the west tube to free the TBM’s cutterhead from the front. Herrenknecht delivered 76 TBMs, equipment and services for the metro network in Guangzhou. Here, the tunnellers blasted huge underground stations out of the rock. Since 2009 work on installing the rail technology in the Gotthard Base Tunnel has been in progress: rails, points, contact wire, power supply, Telecom and a new signalling technique for up to 250 km per hour. Construction was split into five sections, each with a designated consortium, from the north being: Erstfeld (ARGE AGN), Amsteg (ARGE AGN), Sedrun (ARGE Transco-Sedrun), Faido (ARGE TAT) and Bodio (ARGE TAT). The Alpine country is nearing this goal in leaps and bounds. It is the result of almost half a century of intensive planning and has evolved continuously along with technology and geological science. A total of 28.2 million tonnes of excavated rock was transported out of the tunnel. Swiss Railways are expecting, in particular, to cut freight transport times – yet another important improvement in traffic logistics between Germany and Italy. 111 kilometers of metro tunnel were built beneath the capital of Qatar in only 26 months. Since no one knew how far into the mountain the funnel reached, a decision was taken to make exploratory drills. A horizontal tunnel with a length of around 5.5 kilometers was driven from the cantonal road to the disturbance zone. Instead, it was constructed in five individual segments. Construction of the first road tunnel through the Gotthard begins. The Herrenknecht TBMs on the northern and southern sections of the Base Tunnel reach their first target –up to nine months ahead of schedule. The world's longest railway tunnel at a glance: 2× 57km from Erstfeld to Bodio. Here, the rock presented tunnellers with a particular drill & blast challenge. Operations began in April 2008. 550m above sea level. It has also required courageous and farsighted political decisions to be made. Tunnelling work with the four Herrenknecht Gripper TBMs begins. The idea of a Gotthard Base Tunnel was first voiced in 1947 – but construction work on the tunnel did not begin until 2001. Before the Gotthard Base Tunnel could be commissioned, in more than 3,500 test runs the interplay of all tunnel components and systems was thoroughly tested. These high-tech steel giants from Schwanau, with a length of more than 400 meters and cutterheads measuring 9.5 meters, tunnelled their way through the tremendously hard rock, while the crowds of skiers enjoying the snow some 2,000 meters above in the Lukmanier Pass remain oblivious to the ear-splitting noise and the machine’s brute force. Deutsch: Der Gotthard-Basistunnel (GBT) in der Schweiz verbindet Erstfeld im Kanton Uri mit Bodio im Kanton Tessin. “This will be a high-speed rail corridor for Europe straight through the Alps, to transport goods in an environmentally friendly way from Rotterdam to Genoa,” says Moritz Leuenberger, Swiss Federal Councillor, in describing the ‘longest wonder of the world’. Eight tunnel boring machines created tunnels for a modern rail network in London. Access to the tunnel is relatively easy from the mountain pass roads at the tunnel mouths near Bodio and Erstfeld in the north, while at Amsteg it is approached via a short tunnel of ‘only’ two kilometers’ length. The media called it ‘D-Day at Piora Beach’. At 57 kilometres, the Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) is the longest railway tunnel in the world and represents the centrepiece of the New Rail Link through the Alps (NRLA). The main breakthrough at the Gotthard Base Tunnel on March 23, 2011 in the Western tunnel and on October 15, 2010 in the Eastern tunnel marks the most significant milestone on the way to completing the longest railway tunnel in the world. This will make the helper locomotives, currently necessary on inclines, a thing of the past. At peak times, around 2,400 people worked on the tunnel construction sites. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is a symbol of Swiss precision, reliability and innovative inspiration and is in addition the world’s ... [Show full abstract] longest railway tunnel. For example, at the very beginning of tunnelling from the southern side of the Gotthard in February 2003 – after only 200 meters – work was interrupted by unconsolidated rock. Around 80% of freight transport between Italy and the other EU countries goes through the Alps. The Gotthard Base Tunnel – the centerpiece of the new Alpine transversals – is scheduled to go into operation. Herrenknecht Gripper tunnel boring machines have excavated and secured more than 85km of the main tubes.. At the end of 2016, the first high-speed trains will travel through the Gotthard Base Tunnel at speeds of 200 to 250 kilometers per hour. The Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT; German: Gotthard-Basistunnel, Italian: Galleria di base del San Gottardo, Romansh: Tunnel da basa dal Son Gottard) is a railway tunnel through the Alps in Switzerland.It opened on 1 June 2016, and full service began on 11 December 2016. Work continues, including that of the two (vault) lining units supplied by the Herrenknecht branch company Maschinen- und Stahlbau Dresden, which follow the two tunnelling ‘ladies’ at a respectful distance. Such geological conditions are too soft for Gripper TBMs, which are designed for very hard rock, and make rapid tunnelling progress almost impossible. Opening Enoch’s Gates Part 9. I am very proud that our engineers and machinery have been able to show their best performance. 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