Great engineering feat:

Gotthard Base Tunnel is now Complete!

After nearly 20 years of excavation Swiss engineers created the world’s longest rail tunnel on October 15 in Central Switzerland

It is certainly an engineering feat that speaks volumes for the wonderful achievements mankind is capable of. A technically difficult project, costing over 10 billion Swiss Francs, (a little over 10 billion US dollars), the world’s longest rail tunnel - the Gotthard Base Tunnel has been 60 years in the making. First conceived by engineer Carl Eduard Gruner way back in 1947, the 57 km long (35.4m) tunnel was finally born amidst great jubilation. “This is the most wonderful moment in my 36 years of tunnel building,” is what the foreman, Hubert Baer had to say expressing his joy, surrounded by colleagues, VIPs and cameramen.

The Gotthard Base tunnel which took away the record from Japan’s 54 km (33.5 mile) long Seikan Tunnel as the World’s longest tunnel, is seen as a milestone in the creation of a high-speed transportation network connecting all corners of Europe.

When the tunnel opens for rail traffic in 2017, it will enable passenger and cargo trains to pass under the Alps, at speeds of up to 155 mph on their way from Germany to Italy. It will also allow millions of tons of goods that are currently transported through the Alps on heavy trucks, to be shifted on to the rails.

The tunnel while facilitating transport and cutting down on time, also aims at reducing the damage done by heavy trucks on Switzerland’s pristine Alpine landscape. Swiss engineers are hoping to complete the rail tunnel even sooner than planned - possibly by the end of 2016.

In fact, Switzerland has set the bar high for future cross-Alpine rail projects. Two more tunnels, one connecting Lyon, France to Turin, Italy and the other replacing the Brenner Road Tunnel between Austria and Italy, are still to be completed.

Even though a page in history has been turned with the completion of the Gotthard tunnel, the journey to this point has been a gruelling one - as hard as the drilling itself.

Would you believe that about 2,500 workers were involved in this project which took 20 years of digging and the excavation of about 24 million tons of rock - the equivalent of five times the volume of the Great Pyramid of Giza? And the tunnel was born at a high price. Not just monetary. It is reported that eight workers loss their lives during excavation work.

However, when the huge tunnel boring machine (TBM) dubbed the ‘Sissi’ blasted through the last six feet of rock on October 15, a little after 2 p.m. amids the blowing of trumpets, fireworks, and loud cheers, many, even the macho Swiss miners are reported to have shed tears of joy.

When it came to the drilling of the tunnels, workers are said to have relied on eight gigantic, 3,000-ton tunnel drilling machines simultaneously. An 800 metre long shaft had been drilled vertically into the mountain so that workers could begin working in the middle of the tunnel.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel now connects the Swiss towns of Erstfeld in the north and Bodio in the south allowing faster travel between Italy and France and Italy and Germany.

However, it has been reported that at times, even the giant machines had been unable to carry out the gruelling drilling work especially in zones where the rock was particularly brittle.

The engineers had been compelled to keep the machines aside and revert to traditional methods of excavation - such as the use of explosives. According to these engineers, the zones of stone that had been crushed to bits when the Alps mountains formed had proved to be the most problematic areas to drill through.

Even though nobody had ever worked with such material under such a depth (over 800 metres deep), the workmen with rock solid spirits had succeeded in making a 60-year-old dream of an engineer come true.

And now, once again, Switzerland holds the world record for the longest rail tunnel thanks to the untiring efforts of their engineers.

Facts and pix: Internet.

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 Fast facts

* Switzerland, a country of just under 8 million people undertook this ambitions project costing 10 billion US dollars nearly 20 years ago.

* The current method of transporting heavy goods across the Alpine landscape has contributed to its steady erosion, harming fragile Alpine plants and animals as well as the scenery.

* Switzerland already transports 62 per cent of its freight by rail.

* The Swiss people have been tunnelling through the Alps for decades. The Gotthard Tunnel and other tunnels including the recently completed 21.5 mile long (35.6 kilometre) Loetschberg Base Tunnel, complete an underground network which only a few other countries can rival.

* The workers spent nearly 20 years smashing through the rock beneath the towering Gotthard Massif, including the 8,200 foot Piz Vatgira or Vatgira Peak.

* Once the railroad tracks open in 2017, trains will travel through the base of the Alps, one of the world’s tallest mountain ranges, at speeds of up to 155 miles per hour.

* The Alps which has always played an important role in European history form a natural border for Italy in the South, France in the West, Germany in the north, Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic in the east and Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland which are virtually on top of the mountain.

* The new Gotthard Base Tunnel loosely follows the above ground Gotthard Pass in use since 1200s. However, due to icy rivers and dangerous fjords that run beneath the cliffs, travel has proved to be rather difficult. The new tunnel will be a welcome change.

* Some of the other long tunnels in Switzerland.

* The St. Gotthard Road Tunnel is the third largest road tunnel in the world. The largest is Laerdalstunnelen (24.5 km) and the second longest is the Zhongnanshan Tunnel (just under 17 km) below the St. Gotthard Pass.

* The St. Gotthard railway tunnel opened in 1882 was once the world’s longest until Japan built the Seikan Tunnel.

Engineer Carl Eduard Gruner first designed the tunnel more than 60 years ago.

* When the final bit of excavation was completed and the historic breakthrough was made, foreman Hubert Baer had lifted a statue of Saint Barbara the patron saint of miners through a small hole in the enormous drilling machine.