, line =

Lötschberg Line The Lötschberg is an Alpine mountain massif and usually associated with a major, historically important transit axis of the Alps in Switzerland with, at its core, the Lötschen Pass (german: Lötschenpass, Swiss German: ''Lötschepass''). The mou ...

, location = Circumventing the Lötschen Pass in the

Bernese Alps , topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo , photo=BerneseAlps.jpg , photo_caption=The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau , country= Switzerland , subdivision1_type= Cantons , subdivision1= , parent= Western Alps , borders_on= , ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

(

Canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

canton of Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 ...

) , coordinates = – , system = BLS, SBB CFF FFS , status = , start = Kandersteg,

canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

, , end =

Goppenstein Goppenstein (1,216 m) is a Swiss hamlet in the canton of Valais, located in the lower Lötschental and traversed by the Lonza river. It belongs to the municipality of Ferden. Goppenstein is mainly known for its railway station on the Lötschberg r ...

, , stations = , startwork = 7 March 1907 , opened = 15 July 1913 , closed = , owner = BLS NETZ AG , operator = BLS , traffic = Railway , character = Passenger, Freight, Car Transport , length = , linelength = , tracklength = , notrack = One double-track , gauge = (

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...

) , el = 15 kV 16.7 Hz , speed = , hielevation = , lowelevation = (north portal) , height = , grade = 3–7 ‰ , map = Lötschberg Höhenprofil-N

The Lötschberg Tunnel is a long

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

on the

, which connects

Spiez Spiez is a town and municipality on the shore of Lake Thun in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss canton of Bern. It is part of the Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district. Besides the town of Spiez, the municipality also includes ...

and

Brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part ...

at the northern end of the

Simplon Tunnel , it, Galleria del Sempione , line = Simplon line, (Lötschberg railway line) , location = Traversing the Lepontine Alps between Switzerland and Italy , coordinates = – , system = Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF ...

cutting through the

. Its ends are at the towns of Kandersteg (2 km away) in the

canton of Berne The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

and

in the

. The top elevation of the tunnel is above sea level, this is the highest point of the main Swiss railway network. Construction began in 1907 and suffered delays by several severe accidents. * February 1908: An

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and ea ...

destroyed a hotel that the workers lived in, killing 13. * July 1908: The tunnel broke into a deep fissure below th
Gasterntal
valley and flooded with water and glacial deposit from the fissure, killing 25, and 1554 meters (5100 feet, 0.9656 mile) of the tunnel had to be abandoned and sealed off and replaced by a curved bypass. * March 1911: Breakthrough was achieved * 3 June 1913: Finalization * 15 July 1913: Regular service through the Lötschberg Tunnel began in 1913. The tunnel is a single bore twin track. The BLS AG company offers a car transport service through the tunnel, between Kandersteg station and Goppenstein station, for accompanied vehicles. The journey time of approximately 20 minutes, passengers remain in their cars in open sided car transport vehicles. At peak times, the car transport service operates in each direction every 7½ minutes. The new Lötschberg Base Tunnel, opened on June 15, 2007, has been constructed some below the level of the current Lötschberg Tunnel as part of the NRLA (New Railway Link through the Alps) project.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lotschberg Tunnel Railway tunnels in Switzerland Buildings and structures in Valais Bernese Oberland Tunnels completed in 1913 Transport in the canton of Bern Bern–Valais border 1913 establishments in Switzerland Tunnels in the Alps

See also

References

Further reading

External links