Gotthard railway

The Gotthard railway (Gotthardbahn; Ferrovia del Gottardo) is the Swiss trans-alpine railway line from northern Switzerland to the canton of Ticino. The line forms a major part of an important international railway link between northern and southern Europe, especially on the Rotterdam-Basel-Genoa corridor. The Gotthard Railway Company (Gotthardbahn-Gesellschaft) was the former private railway company that financed the construction of and originally operated that line. The railway comprises an international main line through Switzerland from Basel (French Bâle) or Zürich to Immensee to Chiasso, together with branches, from Immensee to Lucerne and Rotkreuz, from Arth-Goldau to Zug, and from Bellinzona to Chiasso, via Locarno and Luino. The main line, second highest standard railway in Switzerland, penetrates the Alps using the Gotthard Tunnel at above sea level. The line then descends as far as Bellinzona, at above sea level, before climbing again to the pass of Monte Ceneri, on the way to Lugano and Chiasso. The extreme differences in altitude necessitate the use of long ramped approaches on each side, together with seven spirals. Construction of the line started in 1872, with some lowland sections opening by 1875. The full line opened in 1882, following the completion of the Gotthard Tunnel. The line was incorporated into the Swiss Federal Railways in 1909 and electrified in 1922. The line has 36 tunnels totaling 31,216 meters. The approaches to the existing tunnel continue to restrict speed and capacity on this important international route, and in 1992 it was decided to build a new lower level route on the Gotthard axis as part of the NRLA project. This route involves the construction of the new Gotthard Base Tunnel and Ceneri Base Tunnel. The Gotthard Base Tunnel has been completed and was integrated with the existing route in 2016, while the Ceneri Base Tunnel was opened in 2020. By the early 1870s, northern Switzerland had a significant network of railways, with links to the adjoining railways of Germany and France.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (2)

Related concepts (10)

Related lectures (4)

Course Overview: Teaser on Course Contents CS-101: Advanced information, computation, communication I

Offers an overview of propositional and predicate logic, sets, functions, relations, algorithms, Swiss cities, sorting tables, Covid infections, poker hands, and prime numbers.

Architecture and Territory in Ticino AR-401(m): Studio MA1 (Gay and Menzel)

Delves into the relationship between architecture and territory in Ticino, emphasizing the impact of architectural interventions on the landscape.

Atmospheric Trace Gases ENV-409: Air pollution

Explores the measurements and impact of atmospheric trace gases, emphasizing quality assurance and data control processes.

Gotthard Tunnel

The Gotthard Tunnel (Gotthardtunnel, Galleria del San Gottardo) is a railway tunnel that forms the summit of the Gotthard Railway in Switzerland. It connects Göschenen with Airolo and was the first tunnel through the Saint-Gotthard Massif in order to bypass the St Gotthard Pass. It was built as single bore tunnel accommodating a standard gauge double-track railway throughout. When opened in 1882, the Gotthard Tunnel was the longest tunnel in the world.

Biasca

Biasca is a town of the district of Riviera in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Biasca is first mentioned in 830 as Aviasca in the Liber viventium of Pfäfers Abbey. In 1119 it was mentioned as Abiasca. In 948, the Bishop of Vercelli donated the area around Biasca to the Bishop of Milan. This led to the spiritual and secular domination of the valley north of Bellinzona. During the Bishop's conflicts with the Holy Roman Empire over the Lombardy provinces, Biasca and the surrounding region suffered from armies marching through the valley.

Bellinzona

Bellinzona (ˌbɛlɪnˈzoʊnə , bellinˈtsoːna, Ticinese belĩˈtsɔna; Bellinzone bɛlɛ̃zon; Bellenz ˈbɛlɛnts; Blizuna bliˈtsuːnə) is a municipality, a historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sasso Corbaro) that have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000. The town lies east of the river Ticino, at the foot of the Alps. It stretches along the river valley, surrounded by the southern ranges of the Lepontine Alps to the east and west, and by the Lugano Prealps to the south.

In-situ stress and rock characterisation via dry reopening test

In the present project a not well-known method has been studied, the dry reopening test DRT. This is a method used to estimate the in-situ stress field of a soil and was. In the context of the project, the test was used to estimate the stress field in the ...

2020

Modelling degradation processes of switches & crossings for maintenance & renewal planning on the Swiss railway network

Willem-Jan Zwanenburg

Approximately 25 percent of the budget for the maintenance and renewal of railway tracks –in Switzerland more than a billion Swiss Francs– is used for the switches (points) and crossings (S&C). While in the mean time the budget expenditure for the maintena ...

EPFL2009