Tracklaying completed in Gotthard Base Tunnel [IRJ]
Date: 03/11/2014
A MILESTONE in the construction of the world's longest railway tunnel was celebrated at noon on October 31, when a ceremonial gold sleeper was laid to mark the completion of tracklaying in the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The completion of his phase of the project means diesel locomotives can now run through the entire length of the 57km twin-bore tunnel. Around 290 km of rails were laid on slab track bed laid by a concreting train, which was specially developed for the Gotthard project. This enabled the concrete to be mixed on site and poured directly onto the trackbed. Final smoothing was carried out manually within a tolerance of just 0.5 mm. The work took 39 months to complete with around 125 workers working in shifts 24 hours a day.
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