Swissmetro
The Swissmetro was a project for the development and construction of an underground magnetic levitation in a vacuum tunnel for passenger transport . The planned routes in Switzerland should improve long-distance public transport , relieve surface traffic and greatly reduce the travel times for passengers between Swiss cities. The 100-kilometer route from Bern to Zurich would have taken less than 15 minutes.
technology
The Swissmetro was designed as a completely underground magnetic levitation train. So it would have been neither visible nor audible from the outside. It should run in separate tunnels with a diameter of about six meters each, in which a partial vacuum would have prevailed ( vacuum tunnel ). In this way, the air resistance and thus the energy consumption could have been reduced. The Swissmetro vehicles would have been powered by non-contact electric linear motors . Together with a magnetic support and guidance system, this would have enabled almost wear-free floating under the earth's surface at a speed of over 500 km / h. Such was the distance of Zurich - Bern , an average speed of 522 km / h provided.
The following points served as a basis for decision-making for the respective project progress:
advantages
- low energy consumption for traction because of the vacuum tunnel
- no noise emissions
- no impairment of the landscape
- high speed
- high clock frequency
- Relief of the existing rail network
- Stops directly below the major train stations
- no environmental influences (storm, snow, ...)
disadvantage
- High investment costs
- Incompatibility with the existing railway infrastructure
- not suitable for freight traffic
- Energy consumption for vacuum generation
- pure tunnel travel
network
The most important part of the network should be the east-west axis Geneva – Lausanne – Bern – Zurich – St. Gallen form. In 1997 a first, and in 2003 a supplementary, license application for the Lausanne - Geneva line was submitted to the federal government.
For technical and economic reasons, the section between Basel and Zurich was also considered as a pilot route for the project. In addition, an extension to the airports in Zurich and Basel was proposed.
An expansion of the Swissmetro system to a European route network was planned under the term Eurometro . In the first phase, an extension of Swissmetro to Lyon in the west and Munich in the east would be interesting. A Eurometro would be an alternative to air travel on longer routes .
Status of the project
Swissmetro AG was liquidated in 2009 due to a lack of financial resources.
history
The Lausanne engineer Rodolphe Nieth launched the Swissmetro project in 1974. In 1981 the project received the support of a group of professors from the EPFL in Lausanne . The project was presented to Parliament in 1985. The total costs for the St. Gallen – Geneva and Basel – Chiasso lines were estimated at CHF 25 billion. In 1986 the Federal Council rejected a feasibility study for Swissmetro. For him, the project was no alternative to Bahn 2000 .
A preliminary study and a feasibility study by the ETH Lausanne described Swissmetro as feasible and profitable. The St. Gallen – Geneva axis would cost 14 billion. Half of them should come from the federal government and the private sector. However, the studies met with skepticism. In 1992, the Swissmetro AG funding company was founded in Bern. Swissmetro AG, represented by Elektrowatt Engineering AG (EWE), carried out the so-called main study from 1994 to 1998. The topics of spatial planning, traffic, operation, infrastructure, environmental compatibility and electromechanics were dealt with. As a result, a license application was submitted in 1997 for a pilot route between Lausanne and Geneva. The Federal Council did not want to deal with the license application for the Geneva – Lausanne pilot route until proof of funding was available. In 2000, the National Research Program 41 (NRP 41) produced reports on the subject of Swissmetro, among other things.
In 2001, the National Council submitted a postulate to promote Swissmetro. The Federal Council wanted to pursue the development of the Swissmetro project, assuming its technical feasibility. After the Western Swiss Employers' Associations (FSP) withdrew from the project in 2002, the shareholders of Swissmetro reduced the capital by a factor of twenty, but wanted to pursue the project. In 2003, Swissmetro AG submitted a license application for the Geneva – Lausanne pilot route to DETEC, supplemented by financing . At a cost of around CHF 3.5 billion, the federal government and cantons should contribute CHF 1.9 billion. Swissmetro AG was liquidated in 2009 due to a lack of financial resources.
Swissmetro AG
Swissmetro AG was behind the project. The stock corporation, based in Bern, was founded in 1992 with the Ticino Council of States Sergio Salvioni as president. She spread the idea and developed the project.
The Board of Directors consisted of numerous well-known members and was most recently chaired by FDP National Councilor Pierre Triponez .
Swissmetro AG declared in October 2009 that “the project cannot be implemented in Switzerland in the foreseeable future”. The liquidation of Swissmetro AG was then resolved at an extraordinary general meeting on November 20, 2009. The project management and the rights to the project were returned to the ETH Lausanne in a transfer agreement.
Association Pro Swissmetro
The Pro Swissmetro association is funding the project with appropriate means and making it known to the public. Until 2006 the name was the Association of Friends of Swissmetro .
On the occasion of a press conference in the Hagerbach test tunnel on December 1, 2016, the association announced that it wanted to prove the technical feasibility by founding an unspecified AG by means of a 1: 1 demonstrator.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Energy and environmental balance of a Eurometro, FH Burgdorf
- ↑ a b Swissmetro - main study final report level A. 1999 ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 352 kB)
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Website of the NRP 41
- ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung, June 28, 2003 - License application for Swissmetro improved
- ↑ History | swissmetro.ch. April 27, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2017 .
- ↑ Swissmetro AG press release of October 31, 2009 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , PDF , 80 kB
- ↑ Swissmetro without opportunities . NZZ, Nov. 2, 2009.
- ↑ Reinhold Meier: Breathe life into Swissmetro . In: Wiler Zeitung . February 11, 2012.
- ↑ SRF Tagesschau , November 30, 2016.
- ↑ Swissmetro reappears. In: NZZ. December 1, 2016.
