Lötschberg Base Tunnel

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The new Lötschberg Base Tunnel together with the century-old Simplon Rail Tunnel form the western part of the Alptransit project
(yellow: major tunnels, red: existing main tracks, numbers: year of completion)

The north portal in Frutigen

South portal near Raron

The Lötschberg Base Tunnel (LBT) is a 34.6 km (21 mile) long tunnel cutting through the Alps of Switzerland some 400 m below the level of the current Lötschberg Tunnel. The tunnel runs between Frutigen, Berne and Raron, Valais. Breakthrough was made in April 2005, and construction ended in 2006. Standard operation is expected by the end of 2007. It will be the longest land tunnel in the world and will accommodate both passenger and freight trains. The opening ceremony of the tunnel has been announced for Saturday June 16, 2007.

Built to ease truck traffic on Swiss roads, this tunnel will allow an increased number of trucks and trailers to be loaded onto trains in Germany, pass through Switzerland on rail, and be unloaded in Italy. It also cuts down travel time for German tourists headed to Swiss ski resorts and puts the Valais into commuting distance to Berne due to a travel time reduction by 50%. The total cost (including an $840 million cost overrun) has come to 3.5 billion dollars. Along with the Gotthard Base Tunnel, this is part of the Swiss AlpTransit initiative.

Track construction inside the Lötschberg base tunnel was completed on July 24, 2006. Extensive testing is taking place including more than one thousand test runs and testing for the use of the ETCS Level 2 system. Some regular freight will make use of the tunnel as early as June 2007, after the opening ceremony. However, no regular passenger train will use the tunnel until December 2007 (with the new Swiss and European timetables).

The project include also two parallel bridges over the Rhône river in canton Valais, the 2.6 km (1.6 mile) Engstlige tunnel (built with cut-and-cover method, the two tracks are divided by a wall), and a single-track branch tunnel starting from a junction inside the main tunnel and ending after 3 km in Steg (thus, on the southern side, the tunnel will have two entrances). The construction has been divided into three phases:

Phase 1: construction of the Engstlige tunnel, the two bridges, the complete east tube of main tunnel, about 3/4 of the length of the west tube, the branch from Steg. Tracks are laid in the eastern tubes of Lötschberg Basis and Engstlige tunnels, and for a dozen of km in the western tube of Lötschberg Basis, starting from south. There will be about 21 km of single track without passing loops, thus if a train is more than 7 minutes late, it will be sent on the old line, whether it is a freight or passenger train, or will wait the next avilable timetable slot.
Phase 2: laying of tracks in the bored but not equipped part of western tube of LBT, and in the western tube of Engstlige tunnel.
Phase 3: construction of the remaining 8 km of western tube, laying of tracks on the Steg branch, and connection of this branch to the main line, but towards Lausanne.

Phases 2 and 3 may be done at the same time. Completing the tunnel is estimated to cost about a billion Swiss francs.

1 Operation
- 1.1 Travel speeds
2 See also
3 External links

[edit] Operation

It is planned to run 110 trains a day through the new base tunnel, and 66 through the old mountain tunnel, because of the single track. Of the 110 trains which will pass the base tunnel, 30 will be passenger trains and 80 will be freight trains including intermodal freight transport as well as heavy freight trains with a maximum weight of 4000 tons and a maximum length of 1500 metres which are unable to pass the existing mountain track.