After an eleven year construction period, on 28 April the final connection was blasted through on the 34.6km long Lötschberg base tunnel by jubilant miners under the Swiss Alps (T&TI, January 2003, p16).
Tunnellers working from the Berne side shook hands with their counterparts from the Valais end when the tunnel was joined between the Ferden and Mitholz workfronts. BLS AlpTransit, which is responsible for progressing the scheme, said it was “a historic moment for the more than 2,500 people involved in the project”.
The scheme is an integral part of Switzerland’s rail transport plans that aim to move north-south traffic from road to rail. In total, it features 88km of tunnel and adit. BLS AlpTransit said that with the exception of an area of difficult carboniferous geology near Mitholz, the geological conditions corresponded very well to those expected. Problems associated with this unexpected zone cost the project schedule seven months. The final breakthrough in late April took place only two and a half months later than a revised programme drafted in 1998, which must be testament to both the skill of the construction teams as well as that of the planners seven years earlier.
A special ceremony was arranged to mark the completion of the tunnel excavation. Over 1,000 guests attended, including the Swiss transport minister, Moritz Leuenberger, and Peter Teu, chairman of BLS AlpTransit. Estimates put the final budget for the Lötschberg tunnel at roughly US$3.5bn, which is 31% more than originally supposed. Despite this, Teu was pleased with the cost and programme performance to date. Describing how the budget had been derived a decade earlier, Teu addressed the guests at the breakthrough and said: “It would be negligent, if one would not adapt such a project of many years constantly to the newest state of the art and the risen requirements to security. Thus an increase in value faces these multi-expenditures.”
