Gotthard Base Tunnel

The Gotthard Base Tunnel is a 57-kilometer railway tunnel beneath the Swiss Alps, connecting Erstfeld and Bodio. It forms the central link in Switzerland’s north–south Gotthard railway corridor.

Tunnel boring machine: A machine that excavates tunnels while supporting or lining the surrounding ground. Large tunnel boring machines excavated much of the twin-bore route through the Alps.
AlpTransit: The Swiss national program to build new railway lines through the Alps, including the Gotthard and Lötschberg base tunnels. The Gotthard Base Tunnel was the largest project within this broader rail-building program.
Rail freight transport: The movement of goods by railway, often using freight trains and intermodal containers. The tunnel’s capacity and low gradient support long-distance freight across the Alps.
Modal shift: A change in the share of journeys or freight moved by one transport mode rather than another. Shifting transalpine freight from road to rail was a central aim of the tunnel investment.
Tunnel boring: A method of excavating tunnels with a rotating cutting head and mechanical support systems. This construction method enabled long, continuous drives through the mountain.
Swiss Alpine Initiative: A Swiss popular initiative, approved in 1994, requiring the transfer of transalpine freight from road to rail. Its policy goal strengthened the case for expanding rail capacity through the Alps.
Intermodal freight transport: The movement of goods in standardized loading units across multiple transport modes without handling the goods themselves. Freight containers can pass through the tunnel by rail between road and shipping networks.
Freight transport in the Alps: The movement of goods across the Alpine region by road, rail, and other transport modes. The tunnel addresses the environmental and capacity pressures of Alpine freight traffic.
Cross-passage: A short passage connecting parallel tunnels, often used for access or emergency escape. Cross-passages connect the two bores and provide routes between them.
New Railway Link through the Alps: The Swiss infrastructure program that created new low-level rail crossings beneath the Alps. The tunnel was built as a major component of this national transport project.

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