SEDRUN, Switzerland — Swiss engineers smashed through the last stretch of rock Friday to create the world’s longest tunnel, sparking a national groundswell of elation over a costly, technically difficult project that has been 60 years in the making. Trumpets sounded, cheers reverberated and even burly workers wiped away tears as foreman Hubert Baer lifted a statue of Saint...
SEDRUN, Switzerland — Swiss engineers smashed through the last stretch of rock Friday to create the world’s longest tunnel, sparking a national groundswell of elation over a costly, technically difficult project that has been 60 years in the making.
Trumpets sounded, cheers reverberated and even burly workers wiped away tears as foreman Hubert Baer lifted a statue of Saint Barbara — the patron saint of miners — through a small hole in the enormous drilling machine thousands of feet (meters) underground in central Switzerland.
At that moment, a 35.4-mile (57-kilometer) tunnel was born, and the Alpine nation reclaimed the record from Japan’s Seikan Tunnel. Television stations across Europe showed the event live. “This is the most wonderful moment in my 36 years of tunnel building,” Baer said as he paused for breath, surrounded by joyous colleagues in hardhats and bright orange work gear, VIPs and news cameras.
The new Gotthard Base Tunnel is seen as an important milestone in the creation of a high-speed transportation network connecting all corners of Europe. First conceived in 1947 by engineer Eduard Gruner, it will allow millions of tons of goods that are currently transported through the Alps on heavy trucks to be shifted onto the rails, particularly on the economically important link between the Dutch port of Rotterdam and Italy’s Mediterranean port of Genoa.
The tunnel also aims to reduce the damage that heavy trucks are inflicting on Switzerland’s pristine Alpine landscape.
Peter Fueglistaler, director of the Swiss Federal Office of Transport, called Friday “a day of joy for Switzerland.” “We are not a very emotional people but if we have the longest tunnel in the world, this also for us is very, very emotional.”
Some 2,500 workers have spent nearly 20 years smashing through the rock beneath the towering Gotthard massif, including the 8,200-foot Piz Vatgira (Vatgira Peak).
When the $10 billion tunnel opens for rail traffic in 2017, it will replace Japan’s 33.5-mile Seikan Tunnel as the world’s longest and let passenger and cargo trains pass under the Alps at speeds of up to 155 mph on their way from Germany to Italy.
Swiss engineers are hoping to complete the rail tunnel even sooner than planned — possibly by the end of 2016 — but its first high-speed trains could be delayed by protests in Germany and Italy, where local opposition to new tracks and budget constraints have become an issue in recent months.
“Our neighbors in Germany and Italy will have to fulfill their promise and provide high-speed rail links,” Fueglistaler said.
