Gotthard Base Tunnel

BASIC
DETAILS

PROJECT

 The GOTTHARD BASE TUNNEL is a railway base tunnel

through the Alps in Switzerland. It opened on 1 June
2016 with full service to begin in December 2016.
With a route length of 57.09 km (35.5 mi), it is the
world's longest and deepest traffic tunnel and the first
flat, low-level route through the Alps.
The project consists of two single-track tunnels
connecting Erstfeld with Bodio and passing below
Sedrun. It is part of the AlpTransit project.
It is the deepest railway tunnel in the world, with a
maximum depth of approximately 2,300 metres.
Without ventilation, the temperature inside the
mountain reaches 46 C (115 F).

 To cut construction time in half, five access tunnels were

built so that construction could start at four different
sites simultaneously Erstfeld, Amsteg, Sedrun, and
Faido and Bodio was added later.
The two tunnels are joined approximately every 325 m
(1,066 ft) by connecting galleries. Trains can move
between the tunnels in the two multifunction stations at
Sedrun and Faido.

 The main purpose of the Gotthard Base Tunnel is to increase local

transport capacity through the Alpine barrier, especially for
freight, notably on the RotterdamBaselGenoa corridor, and
more particularly to shift freight volumes from trucks to freight
trains.
This not only significantly reduces the danger of fatal road
crashes involving trucks, but also reduce the environmental
damage caused by the ever-increasing amount of freight hauled
by heavy trucks.
Passenger trains will be able to travel up to 250 km/h (155.3
mph) through the GBT, reducing travel times for trans-Alpine
train journeys by 50 minutes, and by one hour once the adjacent
Zimmerberg and Ceneri Base Tunnels are completed.

 The total projected cost of the project was US$10.3

billion but the final cost exceeded $12 billion.
Companies involved in the project were ARGE
Construction, Bilfinger, Implenia, Frutiger, Impresa
Pizzarotti, Impregilo and Hochtief.
Jens Classen was the production manager

Construction
methodology

BLASTING

TUNNEL BORING
MACHINE

METHOD

 The basic tunneling process was carried out in the same

manner as the other conventional tunnels using TBM ,
DRILLS and blast method.
As the tunneling procceded a primary support was
provided by means of stell ribs , rock bolts etc .
Total construction process was carried out in 5 phases .
Beside tunnel boring many of overground works such as
bridges and underpasses were made.

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENTS

TUNNEL BORING MACHINE

(TBM)

Atunnel boring machine(TBM), is a machine used

to excavatetunnelswith a circular cross section
through a variety of soil androck strata.

Tunnel boring machines carried out 80 per cent of the

work in the main tunnels and drilling and blasting
methods were used for the remaining 20 per cent.

 TBM is a 1200 ft. long and 30 ft. tall

machine.
They canborethrough anything from hard
rock tosand.

 This significantly reduced the cost of

lining the tunnel.
Safer and more pleasant working
environment than in D&B.

DRILLING AND BLASTING METHOD

Drilling and Blasting is the controlled use of

explosivesand other methods such as
gas pressure blastingpyrotechnics, to break
rockforexcavation

 Ammonium nitrate is used in the form of

explosives.
D&B is 10 times slower than TBM.

 The blast puts off super heated ammonia gas.

Highervelocityexplosives were used for

relatively hard rock in order to shatter and
break the rock, while low velocity explosives
were used in soft rocks to generate more gas
pressure and a greater heaving effect.

CONSTRAINTS AND
CHALLENGES

 Excavating through the alps mountain was not an easy

task and thats too at a 6000ft beneath.

During the drilling process it was not known that of what

kind of rock layer is going to be encountered next.

The temperature under the rock and inside the tunnel was
around 46 degree celsius.

 The other main problem occurred was water logging due

to percolation of water through the ice caps .

Even after the completion of the major part of the project

from both ends the main problem faced was HOW TO
CONNECT BOTH ENDS PROPERLY .

Ventilation pf poisness gas such as ammonia from the

blast was a big challenege for the labour and engineers to
work .

Risk

mitigation

 A huge amount of data from previous projects and

exploration was collected and analyzed which gave an
insight into the areas geology.

Before drilling through the rocks an investigative boring

was done to examine the rock strata in the upcoming
phases.

Softer rocks threatened to deform the tunnel so new

concept of applying flexible steel ribs anchored to the
tunnel walls was adopted.

 A very strong ventilation system was installed in order to

lower down the temperature inside the tunnel.

An on site health team was commissioned who constantly

patrolled the tunnel checking the protective clothing,
equipments and monitoring temperature change and
administering first aid.

REFERENCES
www.news.admin.in
www.wikipedia.org
www.swisstravelsystem.com
www.railway-technology.com
https://youtu.be/RClXIzrB7lg
https://youtu.be/JHyd997fdH4
https://youtu.be/9ChhvboE824
https://youtu.be/Zpo7BQiIz18
https://youtu.be/RpYaHmX2f88