Science Behind The Megastructures: Gotthard Base Tunnel
The Gotthard Base Tunnel is one of the most extremely engineered megastructures in World History and was a big challenge for the geotechnicals.
With a length of 57.09 kilometres (35.47 miles) and a total of 151.84 km (94.3 mi) of passages, it is one of the longest tunnels in the world connecting Erstfeld (Uri) with Bodio (Ticino) and passing below Sedrun (Graubünden) in Switzerland. Building a tunnel this long, under the Alps Mountains is a significant achievement by SBB CFF FFS. Not only this, with a maximum depth of 2,450 metres (8,040 ft.), it’s the world’s deepest tunnel.
The Gotthard Base Tunnel is a division of the New Railway Link through the Alps (NRLA) project, which also includes the Ceneri Base Tunnel (CBT) further south (scheduled to open late 2020) and the Lötschberg Base Tunnel (LBT) on the other main north-south axis.
The tunnel is referred to as a “base tunnel” because it bypasses most of the existing Gotthard railway line, opened in 1882 across the Saint-Gotthard Massif, which was operating at its capacity before the opening of the GBT. The new Gotthard Base Tunnel gives a direct route to high-speed passenger trains as well as freight trains.
It’s indeed a megastructure that left people awestruck globally. Engineered with Swiss precision and technology, the Gotthard Tunnel is one of its kinds until now.
Project Overview
It took powerful drilling machines, precise monitoring solutions, reliable instrumentations, experienced manpower, and efficient Tunnel Boring Machines to build the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The project costs around $12.5 Billion and took approximately 17 years to complete.
Being the prominent trade location in Europe, Switzerland is the busiest route for freight movement. Every year, around 14 million trucks and cars travel through Switzerland to anywhere else either for trade or tourism purposes, causing an immense traffic jam on the way.
According to the Alpine Protection Act of February 1994, the maximum possible tonnage was asked to move to railways from roadways. The ultimate goal of the law was to relieve the overuse of roads and, solve traffic issues. Gotthard Base Tunnel has a larger capacity, faster services, and greater reliability when it comes to the freight movement.
The tunnel couldn’t have been possible without the efficient drilling machines, each almost three stories high, and longer than four football grounds, drilling 24/7, for 6 years. To build the tunnel, excavators had to dig out 24 million tons of rock from the mountains, which is more than enough to fill up to 16 football stadiums.
Construction
AlpTransit Gotthard AG was responsible for the construction of the Gotthard Base Tunnel and, it is a subsidiary of the Swiss (see more)
