Gotthard Base Tunnel Research Articles

New Gotthard Rail Link: a Technical Challenge

The transalpine rail routes through Switzerland are over 100 years old. They are presently being rebuilt to meet the requirements of ever-increasing traffic between northern and southern Europe. The efficiency of rail transport on the two busiest transalpine routes, the Gotthard and Lotschberg routes, will be substantially increased by constructing a number of level rail tunnels (base tunnels) through the Swiss Alps. By constructing three base tunnels through the Zimmerberg, Gotthard and Monte Ceneri mountains, the Gotthard rail route will become practically level over its entire length. When completed, the central tunnel, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, will be the longest rail tunnel in the world, 57 km long.

Risk and risk analysis in rock engineering

Risk analysis and decision-making procedures are being applied to large engineering projects with increasing frequency. Risk analysis is a versatile tool in decision-making, whether the decisions are in the form of an engineering design, selecting particular construction procedures, or more general decisions made by private or public entities. An overview of the basic aspects of risk analysis and decision-making are followed by a detailed discussion of three typical rock engineering applications: (1) slope design, (2) flow through fractured media, and (3) tunnelling. The paper includes examples from current tunnel projects (e.g., the Gotthard base tunnel, the Adler tunnel and the Lötschberg base tunnel).

95/04080 Ventilation and cooling studies for the Gotthard Base tunnel

95/04080 Ventilation and cooling studies for the Gotthard Base tunnel

Geological-structure problems of deep tunnels represented by the projected gotthard base tunnel of the federal swiss railways (in German)

Geological-structure problems of deep tunnels represented by the projected gotthard base tunnel of the federal swiss railways (in German)