Normal operation in the Gotthard Base Tunnel not likely until September 2024
Published: Thursday, Nov 2nd 2023, 10:10
Updated At: Friday, Nov 3rd 2023, 00:54
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The damage to the Gotthard Base Tunnel after the derailment is far more serious than assumed: The rail tunnel is therefore not expected to be fully available again for passenger and freight trains until September 2024.
The SBB announced on Thursday that over seven kilometers of the roadway would have to be completely renewed. Repairing the carriageway only in the numerous damaged areas would be tantamount to patchwork.
According to SBB, this means that the repair work will take much longer than expected. Both tubes of the base tunnel will therefore probably not be fully open to traffic again until September 2024.
Damage is insured
According to current knowledge, the damage amounts to around 100 to 130 million Swiss francs. The railroad company has insurance for such events, it says.
According to SBB, the company is examining "all possibilities to accelerate the repair work". This is with the aim of getting the base tunnel back into full operation sooner.
The train paths through the Gotthard Base Tunnel during the repair work had been allocated "after careful consideration of all needs". From the timetable change in December until Easter 2024 for the time being, capacities for freight traffic during the week and for passenger traffic at weekends are to be increased. The exact concept is currently being worked out, he said. SBB plans to communicate the exact connections at the end of November.
On August 10, a freight train derailed in the west tube of the tunnel because a wheel had broken on one of the cars. The train driver was not injured. Freight traffic has been running again through the undamaged east tunnel since August 23. Since the accident, most passenger traffic between German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino has been diverted via the panorama route.
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