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Introducing The Gotthard Train Tunnel, The World’s Longest and Deepest Train Tunnel

 

Introducing The Gotthard Train Tunnel, The World's Longest & Deepest Train TunnelOn June 1, Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande will take a break from their respective domestic crises and attend a ceremony to inaugurate the Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) in Switzerland.

While the US has been focused on resolving LGBT rights issues and deciding whether or not the Confederate flag can fly in cemeteries, Switzerland has focused on something that’s actually productive. After 17 years of work, and at a cost of $12 billion, Switzerland has engineered and constructed the world’s longest and deepest railroad tunnel. At a depth of 7,500 feet, the 35 mile long GBT cuts underneath the Alps, and will remove natural barriers to trade and tourism, along with easing the burden of freight traffic on Switzerland’s ecosystem. For example, freight capacity along the north-south corridor is estimated to increase as a result of the project, going from 22 million tons a year to at least 44 million tons according to NBC News.


Introducing The Gotthard Train Tunnel, The World's Longest & Deepest Train TunnelIn constructing the twin tunnels, one for each direction, more than 31 million tons of rock was excavated (the equivalent of what it would take to build five of Egypt’s Giza pyramids) using boring machines that were the length of almost four NFL football fields. Not only was the construction difficult, the design also had to include very precise safety features.

“We had to design doors that can be opened by a child and that at the same time will stop the spread of fire and smoke. They have to work even if there is no electricity, and stand up to the wave of pressure, equal to ten tons, caused by trains going by” said Peter Schuster of the engineering firm Ernst Basler & Partner.

Introducing The Gotthard Train Tunnel, The World's Longest & Deepest Train Tunnel

Introducing The Gotthard Train Tunnel, The World's Longest & Deepest Train TunnelRegularly scheduled rail traffic is set to begin in December 2016, and with speeds of up to 155mph, passengers will find travel time between Zurich, Switzerland and Milan, Italy reduced from just over four hours to two and a half hours.

The journey through the tube* * *

It’s amazing what can happen if everyone were to stop bickering and come together to design and construct worthwhile projects. We can only hope to see more of this, and less of the other nonsense that inevitably crosses the wire each day.

Here is a short video of the project:

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Tyler Durden
ZeroHedges' Tyler Durden is the hero of Fight Club, the 1999 movie based on Chuck Palahniuk's novel that reflected Chuck's experience in the Cacophony Society Quote: "Goddamn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables, slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off." --> see more about Tyler on snbchf
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