Porta Alpina

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Porta Alpina was the working title of a project for an underground train station in the middle of the Swiss Gotthard base tunnel with a connection to the town of Sedrun and the whole of Surselva to the European high-speed rail network .

With the Porta Alpina, in the middle of the longest railway tunnel in the world, the deepest train station with the highest and fastest lift in the world would have been created and thus an internationally marketable attraction. The opening of the station was planned to coincide with the commissioning of the Gotthard base tunnel.

The project led to the creation of halls deep in the Gotthard massif, whose tourist use concepts have been studied since 2012. In 2020, a motion to resume negotiations was unanimously approved in the cantonal parliament. With this, future use as a station and not just as a tourist attraction came to the fore again.

Starting position

NEAT construction site in Sedrun

In Sedrun there are intermediate access tunnels for the construction of the base tunnel. First, an almost one kilometer long access tunnel leads horizontally into the mountain. From there, two shafts lead 800 meters down vertically to the level of the railway tunnel. As early as 2000, National Councilor Brigitta Gadient proposed to expand one of these tunnels and the Sedrun emergency stop and multifunctional station planned in the base tunnel so that a permanent transfer station can be created for the Surselva and Graubünden . A study initiated by the Canton of Graubünden and published in September 2003 came to the conclusion that the Porta Alpina would be economically interesting and structurally and operationally feasible.

After an investigation under the leadership of the Graubünden Public Transport Office in cooperation with the Federal Office of Transport , the political will at the local, cantonal and federal level led to the construction decision for a "pre-investment", namely the shell of the underground waiting halls for the station Porta Alpina Sedrun . This created the possibility of being able to expand it at least at a later point in time, because this work in the form of further huge rock outcrops would not have been possible after the tunnel went into operation, both logistically and financially. This shell was built between October 2006 and March 2007.

implementation

Since the tunneling equipment in the access gallery was to be dismantled in 2006, it was initially decided to excavate underground waiting halls at tunnel level. Four of the connecting tunnels between the platforms of the emergency stop and a side tunnel were expanded. The eruption created space for four large waiting rooms, each with space for around 240 people. They each have a length of 38 meters, a width of around 10 and a height of 5.5 meters; its excavation in the shell was completed in March 2007.

financing

The expected total costs were estimated at 50 million francs. However, it remained unclear whether the operating and maintenance costs of the Porta Alpina tunnel station can be covered by the expected income.

So that the tunneling equipment would not be dismantled before the total costs had been approved, a decision was initially made on a preliminary project by Porta Alpina with costs of CHF 15 million, which included the excavation of the underground waiting rooms. Both chambers of the federal parliament approved the loan request of 7.5 million in autumn 2005. A total of 9.8 million were provided by the canton of Graubünden, the Surselva region and the Tujetsch municipality.

On February 12, 2006, the people of Graubünden decided in a referendum on the canton's share in the overall project and approved a loan of 20 million Swiss francs with 71.6% yes-votes.

In May 2007, the Swiss federal government postponed the decision to co-finance the main investment to 2012, which would have meant the earliest commissioning three years after the opening of the base tunnel. The Department for the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (DETEC) was commissioned to clarify the open questions by then.

From the Graubünden side, this time decoupling of the buildings was expected to result in additional costs of 40 million, in addition to the estimated costs of 35 million francs. Under these circumstances, the Graubünden side stopped spending on further studies.

On May 16, 2012, the Federal Council announced that it would “temporarily forego” the Porta Alpina. This was followed by negotiations between the federal government, the SBB and the canton of Graubünden, because Graubünden wants to enable alternative use of the halls and the access lift. Private investors are looking for money and ideas for use under the project title Galleria Alpina . In autumn 2013, an agreement was reached that the first thing to do was to install a shop window between the waiting hall and the platform.

Studies

Effects on rail operations

The studies suggest that express trains should stop at the Porta Alpina stop every hour. Thanks to enormous time savings, the remote region would move closer to the large and economically strong conurbations north and south of the Alps and not only make the Surselva a recreational area for these important economic centers, but also bring attractive jobs within easy reach for the local population.

The feasibility study from 2003 shows, however, that the time advantages for those arriving from the north are limited to the upper Surselva . For the journey to Ilanz , a journey via Chur is preferable to the stop at Porta Alpina.

The study also names problems with integrating the "Porta Alpina" stop into the network timetable . A stop of so-called A trains (EuroCity, InterCity) is not possible due to the necessary deceleration and re-acceleration and the tight knot connection of the trains in Arth-Goldau and Milan . B-trains can generally be stopped. However, the travel time between Arth-Goldau and Bellinzona is increased by around 6 minutes (stopping time plus deceleration and start-up losses). This leads to problems in Ticino with the connections that can be reached in Locarno and Bellinzona (with connections to Lugano ). There are only two minutes between the arrival and departure of the B train in Locarno. This requires a so-called overturned turn , which requires an additional train composition. According to the study, it is no longer possible to connect the B-train from Lugano to Bellinzona. This means that negative effects on a Ticino S-Bahn are to be expected every half hour and one of the arguments for the Ceneri base tunnel is greatly weakened.

Investigated issues

After the first feasibility studies, there were numerous unanswered questions. Due to the huge dimensions of the multifunctional station, travelers heading south would have to walk up to 400 m to get to the lifts, those from the north tube would even have to be driven to the lifts by electric bus. Since the lift capacity will probably be limited to 80 people, waiting times of up to half an hour will occur at peak times with more than 320 passengers. It would not be possible to stay in the rail tunnel itself, and it would be necessary to build separate waiting rooms. A lift ride with a height difference of 800 m within 70 seconds (11.4 m / s) also has its pitfalls; so one feared health problems in sensitive people. Likewise, the temperature differences (in the tunnel without cooling up to 40 degrees, in the Surselva in winter by -10 degrees and colder) could cause problems for the passengers. Once at the top, another change to shuttle buses is necessary, which the travelers would then either take to the train station or to the ski area. Critics therefore ask whether rail travelers are willing to change trains three times within a short period of time and accept a feeder travel time of at least 20 minutes from the Porta Alpina stop to the center of Sedrun . Therefore, ideas for a sloping railway from Sedrun down to Porta Alpina have already emerged.

In its approval of the preliminary project, the Federal Council demanded that before the decision on the main investment was made, a spatial concept for the Gotthard region had to be presented, which showed the economic impact on the region. On the other hand, an operating concept was to be drawn up with the operators of the base tunnel route and the Porta Alpina Sedrun (PAS) station, which shows the effects on the operation and capacity of the base tunnel.

The Graubünden government has addressed these questions in its project application for the main investment. For example, a health report recommended limiting the lift speed when descending to 7 m / s. However, many objections, in particular from the tunnel builder AlpTransit Gotthard AG , the SBB and environmental associations, led to the Federal Council resolution of May 2007, which postponed the decision with the mandate to DETEC to answer the remaining questions before making a decision.

On the one hand, the canton of Graubünden then arranged for a reduced service and operating concept to be reviewed together with the SBB by the end of August 2007, which provides for a daily minimum service of six to eight train pairs instead of an hourly service. On the other hand, the Federal Council was asked to announce how the government was on the project. If the main project is not completed at the same time as the base tunnel, additional costs of CHF 40 million can be expected in addition to the estimated costs of CHF 35 million. Under such circumstances, the Graubünden side would not spend the next 2.5 million in costs for further studies, said Graubünden government councilor Stefan Engler.

Trivia

In 2005, Porta Alpina was named Rhaeto-Romanic Word of the Year .

In the Hamburg model railway exhibition Miniatur Wunderland , a model of the Porta Alpina was created as it would have looked if it had been built.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Graubünden residents dream of the Porta again , Tages-Anzeiger, July 14, 2020, page 3
  2. ↑ a b c Press release from the Federal Administration of May 16, 2007: Further clarifications for the Porta Alpina
  3. ↑ NZZ Online from July 6, 2007: Will the Porta Alpina be closing this autumn?
  4. ↑ news.admin.ch
  5. ↑ a b Porta Alpina waiting halls can be used. SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, September 27, 2013, accessed on November 1, 2014 .
  6. ↑ But another Porta Alpina? Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich, February 9, 2012, accessed on November 1, 2014 .
  7. ↑ Feasibility study Porta Alpina Sedrun (PAS) (PDF; 1.8 MB), p. 53 (orig. P. 37)
  8. ↑ Gazette from April 24, 2007: Objections against Porta Alpina (inspection on September 7, 2007)
  9. ↑ NZZ Online from July 6, 2007: Will the Porta Alpina be closing this autumn?

Web links

Commons : Porta Alpina  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 46 ° 40 ′ 34 "  N , 8 ° 46 ′ 29"  E ; CH1903:  702 227  /  170302