{"id":136600,"date":"2024-10-04T18:19:19","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T08:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=56795"},"modified":"2024-10-04T18:19:19","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T08:19:19","slug":"bls-completes-lotschberg-summit-tunnel-modernisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=136600","title":{"rendered":"BLS completes L\u00f6tschberg Summit Tunnel modernisation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The modernisation of the L\u00f6tschberg Summit Tunnel is finally completed after six years of work, BLS said. \u201cThe tunnel can now be used continuously on both tracks by freight trains with four-meter-high semi-trailers\u201d, the company said. All traffic restrictions will be lifted as of Saturday 5 October 2024.<\/strong><br \/>\n<span id=\"more-56795\"><\/span>The tunnel is now equipped with a slab track which replaced the ballast below the rail tracks. According to BLS, ballast-less pavement can last up to 60 years, compared to the 40 of a gravel pavement. Moreover, A slab track needs less maintenance, as the ballast often needs to be compacted to ensure the stability of the tracks.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"readmore\">\n<div class=\"readmore-item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/infrastructure\/2024\/09\/26\/switzerland-to-fund-upgrade-of-railway-along-rhines-left-bank\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Freight-wagons-outside-of-Basel-128x128.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"readmore-thumbnail\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"readmore-info\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/infrastructure\/2024\/09\/26\/switzerland-to-fund-upgrade-of-railway-along-rhines-left-bank\/\" class=\"readmore-title\">Switzerland to fund upgrade of railway along Rhine\u2019s left bank<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<h2>The L\u00f6tschberg rail axis<\/h2>\n<p>The L\u00f6tschberg Summit Tunnel (opened in 1913), together with the L\u00f6tschberg Base Tunnel (opened in 2007), forms one of the most important axis for rail freight in Switzerland. \u201cOf the up to 110 freight trains that travel along the axis every day, between 20 and 50 travel through the summit tunnel on the mountain route\u201d, BLS stated.<\/p>\n<p>Now that the old tunnel has been sorted, it is time for the newer one. The plan here seems to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/corridors\/2023\/08\/18\/the-swiss-federal-council-opted-to-fully-double-the-lotschberg-tunnel\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">double the L\u00f6tschber Base Tunnel<\/a> also in order to increase safety. In the aftermath of the accident that kept the Gotthard closed for over a year, Switzerland might be leaning towards having rail tunnels separate tubes to avoid dire consequences.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"fluid wp-image-56799 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/BLS-Tunnel.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1658\" height=\"1246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/BLS-Tunnel.jpg 1658w, https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/BLS-Tunnel-480x361.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/BLS-Tunnel-768x577.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/BLS-Tunnel-1536x1154.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/BLS-Tunnel-192x144.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/BLS-Tunnel-1024x770.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1658px) 100vw, 1658px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The L\u00f6tschberg Summit Tunnel. Image: \u00a9 BLS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The modernisation of the L\u00f6tschberg Summit Tunnel is finally completed after six years of work, BLS said. \u201cThe tunnel can now be used continuously on\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13731,343,13732,47,350],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-136600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bls","category-infrastructure","category-lotschberg-summit-tunnel","category-rail-news","category-switzerland","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136600"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136651,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136600\/revisions\/136651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}