World’s longest rail tunnel sees light of day

Geneva, May 29 

When Swiss engineer Carl Eduard Gruner came up with the idea to build the world’s longest rail tunnel under the Alps in 1947, he predicted the project could be finished by the start of the 21st century.

He would turn out to be off by 16 years. Gruner’s sketch and technical paper called “Journey through the Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) in the year 2000” planted the seeds for a venture that will be launched this week and aims to transform travel through the heart of Europe.

Constructing the 57-kilometre rail tunnel took just over 12 billion Swiss francs and some 2,400 workers, according to Swiss government statistics.

The bumpy road from Gruner’s initial idea to the official start of construction in 1999 included bureaucratic delays and concern over the project’s financial viability. Switzerland’s federal government set up a committee in 1963 to look into the building of an alpine base tunnel but opinions were split over various proposals, before an official body eventually ruled in 1983 that the project was “not urgent.”

Momentum in favour of the GBT built again ahead of a 1992 referendum, which supported the project, but public outcry about the expense put work on hold.

Eventually, a November 1998 referendum closed the deal, when 64% Swiss voters approved the final plans along with funding schemes, including a new road tax. “It’s a big engineering achievement,” said Martin Knights of the London-headquartered Institution of Civil Engineers.

The tunnel runs from Erstfeld in the central Swiss canton of Uri, to Bodio in southern Ticino canton, and will shave the train journey from Zurich to Milan in northern Italy down to two hours and 40 minutes, roughly an hour less than it currently takes. Full service starts in December. — AFP