BERN - SBB said it must replace all 228 kilometres of track in the Gotthard Base Tunnel earlier than expected because trains are heavier and more frequent than first modelled. Rails that were supposed to last about 20 years are now seen as a 16-year item. Work is pencilled in for 2032 to 2034, inside normal night and weekend windows. A total closure is not planned.
The half-hourly passenger pattern introduced with a recent timetable change is part of the load. Freight is the other part. The tunnel was sold as a century piece of engineering. The steel inside it is a consumable.
Cost still fuzzy
SBB did not put a public figure on the replacement. Newspaper estimates ran from the high tens of millions into the hundreds. Contractors capable of working in a long Alpine tube are a short list.