The Lötschberg Tunnel is a long

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

tunnel on the Lötschberg Line, which connects Spiez and

Brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, 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 l ...

at the northern end of the

Simplon Tunnel The Simplon Tunnel (''Simplontunnel'', ''Traforo del Sempione'' or ''Galleria del Sempione'') is a railway tunnel on the Simplon railway that connects Brig, Switzerland, Brig, Switzerland and Domodossola, Italy, through the Alps, providing a shor ...

cutting through the

Bernese Alps The Bernese Alps are a mountain range of the Alps located in western Switzerland. Although the name suggests that they are located in the Berner Oberland region of the canton of Bern, portions of the Bernese Alps are in the adjacent cantons of Va ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Its ends are at the towns of Kandersteg (2 km away) in the canton of Bern and Goppenstein in the

canton of Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

. 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 Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...

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

* Baumgartner, B., and M. Lortscher. 2007. "Commissioning of the Lotschberg Base Tunnel". ''Elektrische Bahnen; Zentralblatt F̐ưur Elektrischen Zugbetrieb Und Alle Arten Von Triebfahrzeugen Mit Elektrischem Antrieb''. no. 6: 345-350. * Lortscher, M., et al. "Electric Installations in the Lotschberg Base Tunnel." ''Elektrische Bahnen; Zentralblatt F̐ưur Elektrischen Zugbetrieb Und Alle Arten Von Triebfahrzeugen Mit Elektrischem Antrieb''. 6 (2007): 323-344. * Pesendorfer, M., and S. Loew. 2004. "Hydrogeologic Exploration During Excavation of the Lotschberg Base Tunnel (AlpTransit Switzerland)". ''Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences''. no. 104: 347-358. * Vuilleumier, F., A. Weatherill, and B. Crausaz. 2002. "Safety Aspects of Railway and Road Tunnel: Example of the Lotschberg Railway Tunnel and Mont-Blanc Road Tunnel". ''Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology''. 17, no. 2: 153-158. * 2000. "Lötschberg Base Tunnel Will Open Up Low-Level High-Cube Route in 2007". '' Railway Gazette International''. 156: 175-182. * 2002. "TUNNELS - Lotschberg Team Advances Swiftly Through the Alps - Teams Using TBMs and Drill-and-Blast Methods Drive Tunnel That Will Speed Trucks Through Switzerland". ''ENR.''. 249, no. 3: 28. * 2005.
Tracklaying Reaches Halfway in the Lötschberg Base Tunnel
. '' Railway Gazette International''. 161, no. 12: 773-775.

External links

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

See also

References

Further reading

External links