- Ceneri Base Tunnel
The Ceneri Base Tunnel (CBT) is a
railway tunnel under construction inSwitzerland 'sCanton Ticino . The tunnel will pass underMonte Ceneri betweenCamorino in theMagadino Flat andVezia nearLugano . This tunnel is another part of the Swiss AlpTransit initiative NRLA and will be completed before the year2019 . Upon completion, the Ceneri Base Tunnel will be a very important feeder in the south for theGotthard Base Tunnel since the existing, proportionally steep track over Monte Ceneri is neither suitable for high speed rail nor heavy freight trains. Another feeder is theLuino link alongLake Maggiore which is about to be upgraded byItaly in prospect of the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel. Both links meet in the Magadino Flat in the future Camorino Node ( _it. Nodo di Camorino).As well as the Gotthard Base Tunnel, the Ceneri Base Tunnel is being built under contract from the Swiss Federal Government by "Alptransit Gotthard AG". Construction of the two single-track bores with a planned length of 15.4 km (9.6 miles) has commenced in March
2006 . The official start was celebrated onJune 2 ,2006 with the laying of a foundation stone. An exploration tunnel nearSigirino has already been excavated between1999 and2003 to gain geological data on the rock formations at the base tunnel's level. Due to the information that was gathered it has been decided that only a small part can be drilled using atunnel boring machine , the rest will be excavated with traditional blasting methods.The Ceneri Base Tunnel will ease also local train traffic, mainly between the two major cities
Locarno and Lugano but alsoBellinzona andLugano . Travel time with theS-Bahn from Locarno to Lugano will drop from 50 to 22 min.See also
*
AlpTransit External links
* [http://www.alptransit.ch/pages/e/aktuell/stand_ceneri.php Alptransit Gotthard AG - Official project site]
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