After misfortune
The first passenger trains can go through the Gotthard Tunnel again
Crashed freight wagons are at the scene of the accident in the Gotthard Base Tunnel at the beginning of September. photo
© Urs Flueeler/KEYSTONE/dpa
At least on the weekend, individual passenger trains should roll through the Gotthard Base Tunnel again. The reason for the continued limited connection is extensive repair work.
On August 10th, a freight train derailed in the tunnel. The clearance work was difficult. In mid-September, train parts still had to be recovered. According to the SBB, a total of around eight kilometers of tracks and 20,000 sleepers will be replaced. No one was injured in the accident. Freight traffic resumed on August 23rd through the undamaged eastern tube. According to the SBB, the overall repair is likely to take months.
The first train is scheduled to travel south from Zurich on Friday at 5:33 p.m. A few more passenger trains will soon run on weekends. Ticino is a popular weekend getaway region for Swiss from the north. The trips on the weekend are possible because there are fewer freight trains on the road then. In addition, repair work in the west tube was suspended. “Due to the rescue concept, no passenger trains are allowed to run through the eastern tube during the work,” said the SBB.