New alpine rail link

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The new base tunnels of the NEAT in the European rail network

The Neue Eisenbahn-Alpentransversale , NEAT for short ( French Nouvelle ligne ferroviaire à travers les Alpes NLFA , Italian La Nuova ferrovia transalpina NFTA , Romansh Nova lingia da viafier tras las Alps NVTA ), is a major Swiss project aimed at improving rail transit traffic in north-south direction serves to achieve a shift of heavy traffic from the road to the rail. NEAT is an important project on the European development axis Rotterdam - Genoa , which is referred to in the transport planning of the European Union as TEN- V project no. 24 or freight transport corridor no. 1 (Rhine-Alpine corridor).

politics

In the 1960s, the Commission for the Railway Tunnel through the Alps (KEA) evaluated various base tunnel projects and recommended the immediate construction of a Gotthard base tunnel , for which the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) submitted a construction project in 1975. The decision was to objections from the eastern Swiss cantons, due to the historical -eastern Alps promise Bahn entitled to an Alpine crossing via Splügen , San Bernardino or Tödi - Greina levied done 1,992th

In 1983 the Federal Council endorsed the proposal, but considered a decision to be premature. One reason for this was the slowdown in traffic development at the time.

In January 1986 the planning of the new Alpine transversal began. The base tunnels on the Lötschberg , Simplon and Gotthard as well as the planning cases Splügen 1 and Splügen 2 and a Y variant on the Gotthard were examined. On October 8 of the same year, the National Council transferred a motion as a basis for decision-making for a new Alpine transversal. The Y proposals on the Gotthard and the expansion options for the Simplon line should also be taken into account. On November 24, 1986, EVED asked the cantons for support in four projects: the base tunnels on the Gotthard and Lötschberg, and the Splügen and Y projects.

At the end of the 1980s, five railway tunnel projects in the Swiss Alps were discussed. While Gotthard and Lötschberg base tunnels were submitted for political decision at the end of the 1980s, the projects of the Y-branch base tunnel, the Splügen base tunnel and the Simplon base tunnel were postponed. The decision of the Swiss government was made in mid-May 1989. In addition to the expected decision in favor of the Gotthard base tunnel, it was also decided to build the Lötschberg base tunnel. The total estimated cost was CHF 7.6 billion. Of this, three billion should go to the Gotthard and 1.7 billion to the Lötschberg base tunnel.

Against the objection of the SBB and other specialist groups, the Federal Council decided in 1989 to implement a so-called network variant. It provides for a combination of rump projects on the Gotthard and Lötschberg (- Simplon ) axes . Eastern Switzerland did not receive an alpine tunnel, but the promise of a direct connection to the Gotthard axis through a Hirzel tunnel . The head of the transport department, Federal Councilor Adolf Ogi , campaigned for this solution throughout the country and received parliamentary blessings for it in 1991.

The transit agreement with the EU was concluded on May 2, 1992 and approved by Parliament on December 16, 1992. Part of the transit agreement is, among other things, the NEAT concept. On September 27, 1992, the Swiss electorate adopted the federal resolution on the construction of the Swiss Alpine Transversal Railway (Alpine Transit Resolution for short) with 64% yes-votes after the referendum was raised against it.

On February 20, 1994, the Swiss people accepted the Federal People's Initiative "to protect the Alpine region from transit traffic" (Alpine Initiative) in a referendum . The protection of the Alps was enshrined in the constitution . In the same year, the head of the finance department Otto Stich warned of a financial debacle. He demanded that the Lötschberg base tunnel be temporarily dispensed with as part of a staging.

The FinÖV working group set up on June 27, 1995 by the Federal Council presented a number of variants for the NEAT on August 25, 1995. Two variants were favored: simultaneous construction of the Lötschberg and Gotthard base tunnels, whereby the Lötschberg was initially only to be expanded to a single track (variant 5) and a staggered construction in which the projects on the Gotthard, Ceneri and Zimmerberg were initially to be implemented (variant 8th). In an order dated September 20, 1995, the Federal Council commissioned BLS AlpTransit AG to investigate the two variants; on December 23, the results that favored variant 5 were presented. At the beginning of 1996, a parliamentary working group of the federal parties joined this proposal.

On April 24, 1996, the Federal Council decided on a new compromise: Both axes were to be implemented simultaneously in a smaller format. Most of the access lines planned until then were postponed. Only the three base tunnels on the Gotthard, Ceneri and Lötschberg were to be built, the Lötschberg tunnel only with one lane.

On September 6, 1996, the head of the Federal Department of Transport and Energy and the Federal Minister of Transport of the Federal Republic of Germany signed a state treaty in Lugano in which they undertook to meet the requirements for efficient rail transport between Switzerland and the Federal Republic of Germany, particularly with regard to the NEAT railway-alpine transversal to create.

On December 10, 1996, the Council of States decided with 23 votes to 22 to build the Gotthard and Lötschberg base tunnels at the same time.

On November 29, 1998, the majority of Swiss voters approved the proposal on the construction and financing of the public transport infrastructure ( FinöV for short ). It contained provisions on the financing of the scaled-down NEAT project, the first and second stages of the Bahn 2000 , the connection of Eastern and Western Switzerland to the European high-speed network, and noise abatement of the rail network.

On January 1, 2001, the federal law on the shifting of heavy goods traffic across the Alps to the railways (in short, Shifting Law ) came into force. The aim is to shift as much heavy goods traffic across the Alps as possible from the road to the railroad . The performance-based heavy vehicle tax (LSVA) also came into force, a truck toll on all roads in Switzerland. It was only allowed to be collected because Switzerland committed itself to the construction of the NEAT in the bilateral agreements with the EU .

At the end of 2003, the responsible federal authorities recognized that the financing concept adopted in 1998 was based on overly optimistic assumptions. The construction costs of the NEAT had risen sharply since then, and the expected yield decreased drastically. An overview of the railway projects was announced. As a first immediate measure, a further redimensioning of the NEAT was initiated, to which the tunnel projects on Zimmerberg (part of NEAT) and on Hirzel fell victim. In order to limit the expected operating deficits, the introduction of further road-side measures such as an Alpine transit exchange was considered.

In December 2020, the last section of the NEAT will go into operation with the Ceneri Base Tunnel . While the access routes in Switzerland and Italy will be ready by then, Germany is hopelessly behind with the expansion of the Rhine Valley line. In the Treaty of Lugano in 1996, Germany promised to extend the 182-kilometer Basel – Karlsruhe line to four lanes. Tens of thousands of objections against the project cause enormous delays. In 2020, around 44 kilometers between Baden-Baden and Offenburg and 17.6 kilometers north of Basel will be in operation. According to new forecasts by the Federal Office of Transport (FOT), the last elements of the expansion will not be completed until around 2040/2041. Until then, the Rhine Valley route will remain the NEAT's bottleneck. On May 22nd, 2019, the German Federal Transport Minister Scheuer and the Swiss Transport Minister Simonetta Sommaruga signed a ministerial declaration , which u. a. plans to expand the line capacity from 175 to 225 trains per day and direction before the entire line is expanded in 2041. At the beginning of February 2020, Germany informed Switzerland that the measures were on track but would not be implemented until 2023. These extensions are also late. Because of the massive delays in Germany, Switzerland wants to push alternatives. The almost two-month route interruption at Rastatt in 2017 made it clear that alternative routes are necessary. The aim is therefore to expand the route on the French side from Basel to Strasbourg and on to Metz and Belgium on the Channel coast. Talks are expected to start with France in 2020.

Components of the NEAT

Gotthard axis

Gotthard axis of the NEAT, north-south transport corridor in Switzerland
NEAT construction site near Sedrun

The main axis is the Zurich - Milan route , which plays a very important role in transit traffic between Germany and Italy . Here it was particularly important to relieve the heavily used, relatively steep and winding Gotthard Railway from 1882. In terms of transport policy, the Gotthard axis optimizes the routing of the older Gotthard Railway, which was created under different technical conditions. The European transport policy idea behind both concepts (1882 and 1992) is the same: to expand the connection to Milan - Genoa via Basel - Lucerne . It remains to be seen whether and to what extent the old mountain route there will be integrated into the new multi-axis overall concept. Commitments by the Federal Council and the necessities resulting from the daily routine of a heavily used new Lucerne – Lugano axis may make the Gotthard mountain route an irreplaceable part of the AlpTransit concept.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT; 2016), the Erstfeld with Bodio at an altitude of 549 m above sea level. M. connects, is with its 57 km the longest railway tunnel in the world, the longest tunnel in the world is the line 3 of the Guangzhou Metro . The previous record holder as the longest railway tunnel is the Seikan tunnel in Japan with 53.9 km. The design as two separate tunnels and with all access tunnels results in a total tunnel length of 153.5 km. There are four emergency stops (two per tube). The two multifunctional stations Sedrun and Faido are equipped with water supply points for fire-fighting and rescue trains. There are 178 crosscuts that allow safe space (with overpressure in the event of fire / smoke hazard) and connection to the parallel tunnel tube every 325 meters. The diameter of the rail tunnel is approx. 9.40 m. The length of the cross passages between the two railway tunnels is approx. 30 m each. In the tunnels, it is possible twice per tunnel that a train can be guided over a switch into the other tunnel, in the north at the Sedrun multifunctional station and in the south at the emergency stop south of the Faido multifunctional station.

After it went into operation (in 2016), travel time on the Zurich – Milan route was reduced by one hour. In normal operation, the tunnel is driven at 200 km / h, the structure is approved for up to 250 km / h. A journey with a passenger train through the new tunnel takes less than 20 minutes. It is intended that 50 to 80 passenger trains per day will pass through the NEAT.

The multifunctional station in the tunnels below Sedrun ( 1405  m above sea level ) will not initially be converted into an inner-alpine stop ( Porta Alpina ) , as requested by the canton of Graubünden - it would have overcome a height difference of approx. 800 m from the surface Need to become.

Other components of the NEAT-Gotthard axis are the approximately 7.5 km long open Gotthard-South line connecting south with the GBT near Biasca , and the 15.4 km long Ceneri Base Tunnel (CBT) between Bellinzona and Lugano. The principle of the flat runway can only be fully implemented in conjunction with the Ceneri Base Tunnel .

The construction costs for the Gotthard axis were put at CHF 7.72 billion in 1998 (1998 prices, excluding inflation, VAT and construction interest). From 1998 to the end of 2010 the cost forecast rose by 4.63 billion francs or 60 percent. This cost development is due to the improvement of safety and adjustments to the state of the art (+ 25 percent), awarding and execution (+11 percent), geology (+ 10 percent), improvements for the population and the environment (+4 percent), political and legally justified delays (+ 2 percent) and project extensions (+ 1 percent).

Lötschberg axis

NEAT Lötschberg axis
Lötschberg base tunnel south portal, Rhone

On the route Bern - Lötschberg - Simplon , the Lötschberg Base Tunnel (LBT) has been connecting Frutigen with Raron since June 16, 2007 with a length of 34.6 km . Initially, in the so-called upgrading phase, mainly freight trains ran, and since the timetable change in December 2007 also passenger trains, which reduced the travel time Bern-Brig-Milan by a quarter of an hour. Connections between German-speaking Switzerland and Central Valais have been shortened by up to an hour thanks to improved connections.

In the expansion stage completed in 2007, a third of the route can be used on two lanes. In a further third, the shell of the second tube was completed; it serves as an escape tunnel. The total tunnel length (with access tunnels) is 88.1 km. The project costs (1998 price, excluding inflation, building interest and VAT) for the LBT were forecast at CHF 3.2 billion in 1998. According to the provisional final account (2010), they amount to just under CHF 4.3 billion.

The commissioning of the LBT will reduce the traction-relevant maximum inclination of the Lötschberg- Simplon axis in north-south direction from 27 to 15 per thousand. In the opposite direction, the Simplon southern ramp, which is 25 per thousand steep, has to be overcome. Since the freight trains coming from the south already have a lower trailer load, they can also be routed on the Lötschberg over the previous mountain route without significant additional effort, especially since this was converted to a piggyback profile on one track in the 1990s. As a result, the restrictions resulting from the only single-lane expansion of the LBT are put into perspective. The 2008 timetable nonetheless offers relatively unfavorable conditions for freight traffic, with the buffer times necessary for good operational quality in particular not being sufficient. Using the timetable graphic, however, it can be seen that a significant increase in freight capacity would be possible if freight traffic were prioritized.

Expansion of Surselva

The Disentis tunnel , as well as improvements to the infrastructure such as the expansion of the Disentis train station, a new intersection and improvements to the electricity systems belong to the NEAT project part of the expansion of Surselva . The work was finished in 2002. For this part, CHF 105 million was requested.

Connection to Eastern Switzerland

The Zimmerberg Base Tunnel (ZBT) and a tunnel through the Hirzel (connection between the left bank of the Zürichseebahn and the Gotthardbahn ) are part of the connection between Eastern Switzerland and the NEAT . However, the construction of the second stage of the Zimmerberg base tunnel and the Hirzel tunnel was postponed for financial reasons. According to the federal resolution of 1998, a total of CHF 850 ​​million is to be spent on these two tunnels.

Expansion of St. Gallen – Arth-Goldau

Partial expansion of the line to double track on the Swiss Southeast Railway line between St. Gallen and Arth-Goldau . Of the CHF 74 million requested for this project, only 5 million were released, the remaining 69 million were blocked for the time being.

Route extensions in the rest of the network

A total of CHF 550 million has been awarded for the expansion of the remaining network, which includes numerous improvements to the access routes to the two main axes Lötschberg and Gotthard.

total cost

Before the federal referendum in 1992, the costs were estimated to be relatively low at CHF 8 billion (1990 prices).

In the 1998 referendum, total costs of CHF 14.5 billion were approved. In 2001 the Federal Council assumed that the project costs of the NEAT would amount to around CHF 14.7 billion (1998 prices, excluding financing costs for inflation , VAT and building interest).

Around 2005 the estimates were between 16.3 and 17.4 billion CHF. In the same year there was talk of up to CHF 22 billion. In a newspaper interview at the end of September 2006, Max Friedli , the then director of the Federal Office of Transport , even spoke of a possible 24 billion. The last two estimates mentioned relate to the total costs including inflation , VAT and building interest. Definitely, these will only be determined after the project is completed (around 2019). During construction, forecasts are made every six months. The values ​​as of June 2011 are as follows:

  • Project costs: around 18.7 billion CHF (1998 prices)
  • Project cost risks: around CHF −0.9 billion (opportunities) to CHF 1.0 billion (threats) (1998 prices)
  • Financing costs ( inflation , VAT and building interest): around 5.3 billion CHF (effective price status)
  • Total costs (project and financing costs): around CHF 24 billion (effective prices).

In April 2017, the final cost forecast was lowered from 23 to 22.6 billion francs, taking into account the inflation rate.

These funds are taken from the fund for major railway projects (FinöV fund) (in accordance with the popular resolution of November 29, 1998). This is fed:

NEAT 1, phase 1

Parliament decided that the NEAT should be built in two phases. For the construction of the first phase, it decided and approved the loans. The following projects are being built in the first phase:

NEAT 1, phase 2

Zimmerberg Base Tunnel (Stage 1)

For the construction of the project parts of the second phase, the parliament blocked the loans. Because of the increase in costs, the Federal Council wanted to forego the projects in the 2nd phase or not finance them under NEAT 1. Due to a legal revision, the following projects were no longer intended for NEAT 1. With the decision by the people and the stalls in February 2014 to finance and expand the FABI rail infrastructure , there is the possibility of planning and building the NEAT phase 2 projects in the expansion steps of STEP.

  • Zimmerberg Base Tunnel (ZBT) (between Nidelbad and Litti)
  • Hirzeltunnel (connection of the left bank of Lake Zurich with Arth-Goldau)
  • Route extensions on the access roads to the Gotthard Base Tunnel

In 2019, Parliament decided to include the ZBT II in the STEP expansion step 2030/35. The other projects have been postponed indefinitely.

NEAT 2

There were more or less specific plans to further expand the north-south transversal after the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The further expansion of the railway is defined by concrete steps STEP within the framework of the financing and expansion of the FABI railway infrastructure . Thus, all plans for the next expansion steps no longer fall under the NEAT program. :

Should the NEAT 2 projects on the Gotthard axis be fully implemented, the journey from Zurich to Milan should be reduced from the current 3:30 hours to 2:15 to 2:30 hours. Around eighty percent of the 200-kilometer Zurich-Chiasso route would be laid in tunnels.

In 2019, Parliament decided to include the Zimmerberg II tunnel in the STEP expansion step 2030/35. The above projects were not taken into account.

4 meter corridor

In order to further increase the shift of transalpine goods transport from road to rail, SBB, on behalf of the federal government, expanded the route from Basel to Ticino to a 4-meter corridor by 2020. Also new to semi-trailer to be transported with a corner height of 4 meters. The 4-meter corridor is an important element of Swiss transport policy. For the continuous 4-meter corridor on the Gotthard axis, around 20 tunnels had to be expanded and 80 adjustments to platform roofs, traction current and signal systems as well as overpasses had to be made. Parliament approved a loan of CHF 710 million to finance the project. The largest single project was the construction of the Bözberg tunnel in the canton of Aargau, costing CHF 350 million. Other projects were the Villnachern, Morschach, Svitto, Paradiso / San Martino, Maroggia and Molino tunnels.

See also

literature

  • U. Briegal: Preliminary exploration and prognosis of the base tunnels on Gotthard and Lötschberg: reports from the Zurich symposium 15. – 17. February 1999 . AA Balkema Publishers, o. O. 1999, ISBN 90-5410-480-5 .
  • Simon Löw (Hrsg.): Geology and geotechnical engineering of the base tunnels on the Gotthard and on the Lötschberg . Verlag Vdf Hochschulen AG, Zurich 2006, ISBN 3-7281-3082-6 .
  • Werner Rutschmann: New rail-Alpine transversal Gotthard base line. From the first studies to the construction project in 1974 - victim of politics and indifference . SBB Historical Heritage Foundation, Bern 2004, ISBN 3-033-00315-X .
  • Markus Höschen: National stubbornness or ecological rethinking? Political conflicts over Swiss Alpine transit at the end of the 20th century . Meidenbauer Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-89975-644-9 .

Web links

Commons : Alptransit  - collection of images, videos and audio files
items
Reports, information
Videos

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jörg Saalbach: The European development axis Rotterdam - Mannheim - Genoa . In: Federal Institute for Building, Urban and Spatial Research in the Federal Office for Building and Spatial Planning (Hrsg.): Information on spatial development . Issue 7/8/2012, p. 439 ff . ( admin.ch [accessed on February 6, 2018]).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Breakthrough of the Lötschberg base tunnel. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . Issue 6/2005, ISSN  1421-2811 , pp. 275-279.
  3. ↑ Two new rail tunnels through the Alps. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . May 12, 1989, p. 11.
  4. ↑ a b c Message decision in favor of Gotthard and Lötschberg base tunnels. In: Die Bundesbahn , year 65 (1989), issue 7, ISSN  0007-5876 , p. 590.
  5. ↑ Agreement between the Head of the Federal Transport and Energy Industry Department1 and the Federal Minister of Transport of the Federal Republic of Germany to ensure the efficiency of the access to the new railway through the Alps (NEAT) in Switzerland, dated September 6, 1996
  6. ↑ Accelerated capacity increase for freight traffic in the approach to the Neat . In: Rail Business . No. May 23 , 2019, ISSN  1867-2728 , pp. 3 ( online (full text subject to a charge)).
  7. ^ Regina Weinrich: More capacities for the Rheintalbahn. In: eurotransport.de. May 23, 2019, accessed June 9, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Due to delays in Germany, Switzerland is pushing the Neat connection via France In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of February 28, 2020
  9. ^ Matthias Daum: A hole for Europe. In: The time . No. 22/2015, May 28, 2015.
  10. ↑ Michael Soukup: It's getting quieter on the Gotthard mountain route. In Tages-Anzeiger . May 31, 2016 (including the quote "So far, no one has even wanted to commit to maintaining the mountain route", the then Uri National Councilor Gabi Huber (FDP) 2010 in the TA).
  11. ↑ SBB Flyer Safety on board. New Gotthard tunnel.
  12. ↑ SBB Flyer Safety on board. New Gotthard tunnel.
  13. ↑ Supervision of the construction of the NEAT in 2010. Report of the NEAT supervisory delegation of May 5, 2011 (PDF; 1.7 MB) , Figure 2 and Chapter 4.2.2
  14. ↑ Supervision of the construction of the NEAT in 2009. Report of the NEAT supervisory delegation of April 28, 2010, item 3.2.3 (PDF; 542 kB)
  15. ^ Pro Bahn Schweiz, Freight Transport: Freight Transport: Headwind in the Base Tunnel.
  16. ↑ Olivier Bayard, Walter Flühmann, Adrian Mosimann: The future operation of the Lötschberg-Simplon axis. In: Swiss Railway Review / Railway Review International. 02/2007, February 2007, pp. 72-79.
  17. ↑ NZZ: Difficult overview of the costs of the Neat. ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Federal Office of Transport: cost key figures NEAT 2011 / I (PDF file)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bav.admin.ch
  19. ↑ Federal government lowers cost forecast for NEAT by 250 million francs. In: fmltoday.ch. April 6, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2017 .
  20. ↑ Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation, Article 196 Letter 3 Paragraph 2
  21. ↑ Ordinance of the Federal Assembly on the regulations of the fund for major railway projects from October 9, 1998 (as of January 1, 2011) (PDF; 490 kB)
  22. ↑ Consultation draft: Overall view FinöV (PDF; 1.2 MB)
  23. ↑ New railway-Alpine transversal. Status report 2009 / I. (PDF; 1.4 MB) (No longer available online.) Federal Office of Transport (FOT), June 11, 2017, pp. 18, 22 , archived from the original on November 5, 2011 ; accessed on January 17, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Federal Office of Transport FOT: Expansion step 2035
  25. ↑ Federal Office of Transport FOT: Expansion step 2035
  26. ↑ Zurich - Zug - Lucerne: Study Zimmerberg - Base Tunnel II. On: SBB.ch
  27. ↑ SBB: The 4-meter corridor on the Gotthard axis.