The Gotthard Road Tunnel is closed due to a crack in the ceiling.
Published: Monday, Sep 11th 2023, 07:00
Updated At: Friday, Oct 13th 2023, 14:12
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The Gotthard Road Tunnel has been closed in both directions since Sunday afternoon due to a crack in the tunnel ceiling. Concrete parts fell onto the road, according to the Swiss Federal Roads Office (Astra). No people were injured. An initial assessment showed a 25-meter long crack in the intermediate ceiling, as Astra reported in the night of Monday. The concrete parts fell near the northern tunnel portal onto the road. Astra closed the tunnel shortly after 16 o'clock on Sunday following reports from the Uri cantonal police. The exact extent of the damage and the cause were not clarified on Monday morning. Astra officials were working intensively on clarifications. It was not known how long the tunnel would remain closed. Traffic must be diverted in the meantime via the San Bernardino route and the Gotthard pass road, as Astra reported. Trucks that were already waiting in the heavy traffic control centers in Giornico TI and Ripshausen UR for the onward journey were held back. There were queues of traffic at both tunnel portals. The Gotthard Base Tunnel of the railway is also currently closed for passenger traffic for an indefinite period. After a derailment on 10 August, only the east tube is open for freight traffic. The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) are running passenger traffic over the mountain route. Currently, eight derailed wagons are being dismantled in the west tube, which is expected to take until the end of September. It will take several months to repair all the damage.nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
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