St. Gotthard

St. Gotthard Base Tunnel
Sedrun project
Train station above ground and access shaft

This section was completed with a more than one kilometre long access shaft and a 800 m deep shaft. Here one of the two multifunctional centres will be built to house construction equipment, provide emergency stopping locations and lane changes during the operation phase.

Length of the section: 6.2 km

The following material has been installed in this section:
4,000 m tracks on steel sleepers
19 track ties
45 simple turnouts and 30 electro-mechanical turnout drives

The logistics was of special significance during this section because the material in Switzerland had to be reloaded from the lorry to the railway. At 1,400 metres above sea level the temperature often reached -30°C and the snow was often 1 1/2 to 2 metres deep. Transport of the materials from above ground was in a conveyor bucket (measurements: length of five metres and width of 2.5 metres). Because of this the turnouts and the rails had to be cut and separated accordingly. We worked very closely with the other companies at the site. Below ground the safety regulations were especially important. Each stage of the work had to be completed within a tight time window. There was a lot of time pressure so as to avoid any conventional penalties. Exact execution of the construction site logbooks and report lists was indispensable.