Grimsel tunnel
The Grimsel Tunnel is a Swiss railway project , the planning of which was decided by the Federal Assembly in 2019 .
The tunnel is intended not only to open a narrow-gauge connection from Innertkirchen BE ( 625 m above sea level ) to Oberwald VS (1377 m) and thus between the Meiringen-Innertkirchen-Bahn and the Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn network , but also to Laying a high- voltage line for Swissgrid . The future tunnel overcomes a 22 km stretch of 771 vertical meters (average gradient 35 ‰) and thus manages without cogwheel routes . The tunnel will be interrupted in Guttannen (1057 m) for a stop that is open on the valley side, while an underground stop is planned for the Handegg tourist area (1390 m).
The proponents hope that the project will initially benefit tourism through a coherent, now 844 km long, narrow-gauge network: Brig , Visp , and Zermatt as well as Graubünden can now be reached from Interlaken Ost or Lucerne / Engelberg . In addition, there is also a winter-safe access to the Obergoms . The protection of the landscape should also benefit, because by laying the power line in the tunnel, the 121 line masts in the Grimsel area can be removed.
When completed, the Grimsel Tunnel would exceed the length of the 19-kilometer-long and also narrow-gauge Vereina Tunnel, which opened in 1999 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Anitra Green: Swiss cantons reveal Grimsel Pass railway plan. In: International Railway Journal. February 16, 2016, accessed July 22, 2020 .