Eurailmag - #15 - March 2007 - (Page 102)

Tunnels THE NEW GOTTHARD RAIL LINK AS THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE AND GOODS CROSSING THE ALPS CONTINUES TO INCREASE, SWITZERLAND WANTS THIS GROWING VOLUME OF TRAFFIC TO TRAVEL BY RAIL. CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW RAIL LINK THROUGH THE ALPS (NRLA) REPRESENTS A MAJOR MILESTONE FOR SWISS TRANSPORT POLICY AND LAYS THE FOUNDATIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY COMPATIBLE MANAGEMENT OF MOBILITY IN THE FUTURE. ALPTRANSIT GOTTHARD IS BUILDING A FLAT RAIL LINK FOR FUTURE TRAVEL ACROSS THE ALPS. AT THE HEART OF THE NEW TRANSALPINE RAIL ROUTE IS THE WORLD'S LONGEST TUNNEL – THE 57 KM GOTTHARD BASE TUNNEL. Passenger traffic The new Gotthard railway, together with improvements made by Rail 2000 and new rolling stock, will cut journey times. The 3 hr 40 m currently needed to travel from Zurich to Milan through the Gotthard, on the Cisalpino tilting train, will be cut to 2 hr 40 m. Further reductions are possible. Rail travel is clearly a viable alternative to road and air. Approximately 20 million people living in the immediate catchment area of the new line through the Gotthard will benefit from the shorter travel times. International passenger connections between the hubs of Zurich and Milan will be much faster through the Gotthard Base Tunnel. They will bring the centers of southern Germany and the industrial cities of northern Italy - especially Milan - much closer together. Rolling stock will match the new infrastructure. International passenger trains will be more comfortable, faster and quieter. Modern tilting trains, as well as the familiar TGV and ICE highspeed trains, can travel at more than 200 km/hr on the new lines, and on existing tracks are up to about 30% faster than standard trains. Transit freight trains will also be faster and quieter. than 200 trains per day and also allow longer trains. Compared with the current situation, this will just about double the amount of freight that can be transported to around 40 million tonnes per year. Flat rail link on the Gotthard route © AlpTransit Ltd Gotthard - the fastest Alpine crossing rans-Alpine freight traffic by road and rail continues to grow in the EU and Switzerland. International trade is growing faster than domestic trade. Demand for freight transportation to and from Italy also continues to rise steeply. European freight traffic across the Alps today overburdens the roads. Trans-Alpine road traffic doubles every eight years, whereas rail traffic remains constant. Raising the weight limit from 28 to 40 tonnes has resulted in fewer trucks bypassing Switzerland via Austria and France. Transit traffic will continue to increase. Freight traffic in the entire Alpine region will grow by as much as 75% by 2010, according to a study by the EU Commission. If this trend continues it will damage the environment for ourselves as well as future generations. Ahead of other nations, Switzerland has therefore included a traffic policy in its constitution, aimed at making mobility as environmentally compatible as possible. However, such traffic volumes are more than the 130 year old Gotthard route can cope with. Only by upgrading its railway infrastructure can Switzerland meet the rising demand for freight transportation and the increasing needs of customers. T © AlpTransit Ltd Freight traffic Demand for freight traffic in Switzerland will increase by up to 78% by 2030, according to studies by the Swiss Federal Office for Spatial Development. Transit traffic will grow even faster. The amount of freight traffic travelling by rail will increase in relation to Swiss traffic policies. Customers will also demand improvements in operations and administration. The future timetable for freight traffic must be improved and coordinated with the timetable for passenger trains. A daily 150 freight trains currently cross the Gotthard. Construction of the AlpTransit Gotthard will increase this capacity to more ZH-LU overview Construction of base tunnels under the Gotthard and Ceneri will create an ultramodern, flat rail link whose highest point, at 550 meters above sea level, is no higher than the city of Berne. This is much lower than the highest point of the existing route through the mountains at 1,150 meters. Freight trains travelling on the flat route can be longer and pull up to twice today's weight 4,000 instead of 2,000 tonnes. They will be up to twice as fast, too: the fastest freight trains will have a top speed of 160 km/hrr. Trains like this cannot be used on existing Alpine routes because of steep gradients and tight curves. Issue 15 EURAILmag Business & Technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Eurailmag - #15 - March 2007

SOMMAIRE
NOTICE BOARD
COATINGS
NEWS
SERVICES
INFRASTRUCTURE
HIGH-SPEED LINES
TUNNELS
PEOPLE
ROLLING STOCK
WEBSITE DIRECTORY

Eurailmag - #15 - March 2007

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