Gotthard Tunnel

Not to be confused with Gotthard Road Tunnel or

Gotthard Base Tunnel.
The Gotthard Tunnel (German: Gotthardtunnel, Ital-

Workers in Airolo (1880)

Entry to the Gotthard Rail Tunnel at Gschenen

Pneumatic locomotive with attached pressure container.[1]

Entry to the Gotthard Rail Tunnel at Airolo

ian: Galleria del San Gottardo) is a 15.003 km (9.322

mi) long railway tunnel and forms the summit of the
Gotthard Railway in Switzerland. It connects Gschenen
with Airolo and was the rst tunnel through the Gotthard
massif. It is built as one double-track, standard gauge
tunnel.[2]
Memorial for the dead workers
The tunnel rises from the northern portal at Gschenen
(1106 metres / 3650 ft) and the highest point (1151 metres, or 3800 ft) is reached after approximately 8 kilo- 1 Construction
metres (5 mi). After two more kilometers, the border
between the cantons of Uri and Ticino is passed; after The tunnel was built from 1871 to 1881. Construction
another 5 kilometres (3 mi), the tunnel ends at the south- was surveyed by the Swiss engineer Louis Favre, who sufern portal near to Airolo (1142 metres, or 3770 ft). The fered a fatal heart attack inside the tunnel in 1879. Contrip takes about seven to eight minutes by train. Services struction was dicult due to nancial, technical and geoare operated by the Swiss national railway company SBB- logical issues, the last leading to the death of around 200
CFF-FFS.
workers (the exact number is not known) mainly due to
1

water inrushes; many were also killed by the compressed

air-driven trains carrying excavated material out of the
tunnel. There were also serious health issues caused by
an epidemic of hookworm infection.[3] A strike of the
workers in 1875 was crushed by the Swiss Army, killing
four and wounding 13.
There is a memorial for the dead workers near the station
building at Airolo, created by the artist Vincenzo Vela.

Operation

The tunnel was opened for trac in 1882, operated by the

private railway company Gotthardbahn, which ran from
Lucerne to Chiasso at the Italian border. The Gotthardbahn was integrated into the Swiss Federal Railways in
1909. In 1920, the rst electric trains were run through
the Gotthard Tunnel. Initially the voltage had to be reduced from the desired 15 kilovolts to 7.5 kV, because the
grime deposited on the insulators by the steam locomotives encouraged excessive arcing. However in May the
next year, steam was replaced entirely by electric traction
and the problem of soot and grime was eliminated.[4]
Until the opening of the Gotthard Road Tunnel, the Swiss
Federal Railways oered piggyback services for cars and
trucks through the Gotthard Tunnel. Today, that service
exists as the Rolling highway from the German to the Italian border and aims to reduce truck trac on Swiss expressways. An improvisational piggyback service from
Gschenen to Airolo was oered during the two months
closure of the Gotthard Road Tunnel in 2001.

Neighbouring tunnels

The nearby Gotthard Road Tunnel was opened in 1980.

A second railway tunnel, the Gotthard Base Tunnel is currently under construction with completion now expected
in 2016, having broken through in 2010.[5] The adjacent
ramps include several turn tunnels (see Table of turn tunnels).

See also
Gotthard Base Tunnel

References

[1] Braun, Adolphe: Photographische Ansichten der Gotthardbahn, Dornach im Elsass, ca. 1875
[2] Eisenbahnatlas Schweiz. Verlag Schweers + Wall GmbH.
2012. p. 34. ISBN 978-3-89494-130-7.
[3] Bibliography of Hookworm Disease

EXTERNAL LINKS

[4] Book: Die Bahn durch den Gotthard

[5] BBC News - Swiss complete worlds longest tunnel

6 External links
A map with the locations of Gotthard Rail Tunnel
and Gotthard Base Tunnel
Gotthard Tunnel. Information about Gotthard Tunnel (German)
This article includes a list of references, related reading
or external links, but its sources remain unclear because
it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations.
Coordinates:
8.6026E

463144N 83609E / 46.529N

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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File:12_Airolo_railway_station_08.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/12_Airolo_railway_station_08.

jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Chris j wood
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:CompressedAirLocomotive_Section1_AdolpheBraun1811to1877.jpg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/0/07/CompressedAirLocomotive_Section1_AdolpheBraun1811to1877.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Photographische Ansichten der Gotthardbahn, Photographien v. Ad. Braun & Cie, Dornach. i / Elsass, 1875 (literally: Photographic Views of
the Gotthardbahn) Original artist: Adolphe Braun (1811-1877)
File:GothardRailTunnel.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/GothardRailTunnel.jpg License: CC-BYSA-3.0 Contributors: Own work (own photo) Original artist: Audrius Meskauskas
File:Gotthardbahn04.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Gotthardbahn04.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Contributors: rst upload in de wikipedia on 17:35, 22. Jun 2004 by Markus Schwei Original artist: Markus Schwei
File:Gotthardtunnel_Bauarbeiter.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Gotthardtunnel_Bauarbeiter.jpg
License: Public domain Contributors: Unser Gotthard, Lnd/Iten Original artist: ?

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