Saturday,
June 16, 2007
World
The
ANNOTICO Report
The tunnel,
which took eight years to build and cost 4.3 billion Swiss francs will trim the
time trains need to cross between
With a ceremony
that went off like a classic Swiss timepiece, officials yesterday inaugurated
the world
The tunnel, which
took eight years to build and cost 4.3 billion Swiss francs will trim the time
trains need to cross between Germany and Italy from 3= hours to just under two.
The first train
through the tunnel was a freight carrying Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger, arriving in the town of
"We have
moved a mountain," Leuenberger said.
A Roman Catholic
bishop and a Protestant minister blessed the tracks, and several bands played.
At one point, the festivities moved along so briskly that officials had to slow
them down for the punctually arriving train.
After the
inaugural journey, a second train carried journalists and other passengers
southward - a smooth and quiet ride on rubber-cushioned rails that are suitable
for high-speed trains from
Midway through
the tunnel, the train stopped so officials could show off the emergency and
maintenance area, and they served white wine, Swiss cheese and dried beef
called buendnerfleisch. Cellphone
reception was strong throughout the ride, even at points where the tunnel was
6,500 feet below the mountain surface.
When it arrived
on the other side, travelers were greeted by the Valaisian
Alps - some still snowcapped - and hundreds of children waving Swiss flags and
cheering "Bravo" in the city of
The Loetschberg was dug parallel to an even more ambitious
project - the 36-mile Gotthard Tunnel, which will be the world
The Loetschberg tunnel will get skiers to Swiss resorts more
quickly. The trip from Bern, at the northern end of the tunnel, to Visp, near ski regions like Switzerland
By running at low
elevation, the tunnel will be able to accommodate trains and cargo loads that
cannot negotiate the long climb and switchbacks to existing tunnels higher up
the mountain.
As villagers in Frutigen watched the inaugural ceremony, the steady stream
of freight and passenger trains on the old track on the hill above the tunnel
underscored the importance the connection would serve to traffic between
For Swiss
taxpayers the main selling-point was that it would move heavy trucks off their
crowded highways and onto trains.
"We did not
want to become part of the road corridor for 40-ton trucks streaming north and
south, and so decided to opt for rail tunnels," Leuenberger
said.
Passenger trains
will start traveling through the tunnel on Dec. 9. From then on, 72 freight
trains and 43 passenger trains will pass through the tunnel every day.
The Loetschberg was designed to be a twin tunnel, with traffic
moving in both directions through separate tubes. Due to cost constraints,
however, only one side has been completed. It remains unclear if the second,
parallel tube would be finished as well. In the meantime, trains will alternate
traveling in opposite directions through the finished part.
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