Work Begins on World's Longest Tunnel

A global consortium has been awarded a rail systems contract worth about €1bn to work on the world's longest railway tunnel in Switzerland by owners AlpTransit Gotthard AG.

The consortium, comprising Balfour Beatty, Atel Installationstechnik, Alcatel-Lucent and Alpine-Bau Mayreder, was awarded the project on the Gotthard Base Tunnel.

The tunnel will bypass mountain routes to establish a direct service for high-speed passenger trains and heavy freight traffic, and should reduce the existing travel time from Zurich to Milan from 3h 40 mins by approximately one hour.

The project will involve the design, installation and commissioning of rail infrastructure equipment for the tunnel and includes the equipping of both single track tunnels, which are each 57km long.

The contract also includes work on the North and South sections totalling approximately 11km in length up to the connection with the existing rail network, says consortium member Balfour Beatty.

Work on-site is expected to start at Biasca adjacent to the south portal at the end of 2009, with commercial rail services due to start through the tunnels in 2017.

By Ozge Ibrahim