World's longest tunnel 'complete' (Swiss Alps)

[pampango]

Source: Al Jazeera

Tunnel through the Swiss Alps is hailed as an environmental triumph as it will shift freight traffic from road to rail.



The drilling of the world's longest tunnel has almost been completed in the Swiss Alps, clearing the path for a high-speed railway which will connect northern and southeastern Europe and shift lorry freight onto rail. After 15 years of construction work, the 9.5-metre wide drilling machine will bore through the last metres of rock on Friday to join two ends of the 57-kilometre Gotthard Base tunnel about 2,000 metres under a mountain.

The tunnel is being hailed as an environmental triumph as much as an unprecedented engineering feat. It is part of a larger project to shift the haulage of goods from roads to rails, spurred mainly by a concern that heavy lorries are destroying Switzerland's pristine Alpine landscape.

About 1.2 million lorries currently move through Switzerland's mountainous countryside every year, harming rare plants and animals due to exhaust fumes while adding to the erosion of the Alps. The aim is to halve the traffic within two years from the tunnel's opening.

Swiss voters, who are paying more than $1,300 each to fund the project, approved its construction in a series of referendums almost 20 years ago and will have to wait several more before it is ready for rail traffic.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/10/2010101574735643377.html

[tclambert]

1. Why are the Europeans doing all the cool stuff?

How come America never does anything big anymore? We used to. Mt. Rushmore, Hoover Dam, the Panama Canal, putting a man on the frackin' Moon! Have we lost our ambition? Have we lost our desire for greatness?

[bulloney]

5. It would involve the stinkin' gubmint.

If the gubmint has to be involved, then it doesn't need to be done.

Didn't you get the memo?

People forget that we accomplished all of the things mentioned by tclambert, plus other massive projects like the Tennessee Valley Authority and extending electricity and telephone service to other parts of rural America, various immunizations and other projects with the help of the federal government.

But also keep in mind that these were projects that benefited our society as a whole. These days, the federal government can only get involved if it means enriching a handful of corporations and their elite majority owners.

[elleng]

9. We did it, a few years ago!

And Rachel discovered the Hoover Dam Bridge!

[Stuart G]

10. great pics..thanks..

[enlightenment]

17. WOW - that pic of the dam is totally photoshopped!

Not the bridge (that's obvious) - but the amount of water in the reservoir. Drove over the dam a week ago and the water is so low it's ridiculous. Almost three-quarters of the intake towers are visible now.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

24. Was there last month.

Unfortunately the bridge wasn't open yet. Looks like a great view.

[independent_voter]

12. we spend it all on wars to serve other people's interests

not a great deal for the citizen

[hunter]

14. We build aircraft carriers instead, like these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck

[ThomThom]

2. Other countries are creating this stuff, in places you wouldn't

think possible but we can't even get what is left of Am Track to even leave the station on time let alone arrive on time.

[liberal N proud]

3. But it is much more fun to drive over the pass

That is for us driving enthusiasts. Driving in the Alps is an adventure.

[pipoman]

4. How are they going to deal with the exhaust

in a 57 km tunnel?


btw..cool project

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. "How are they going to deal with the exhaust?"

The locomotives will be electrics, not diesel-electrics.

If you go to the east portal of the Moffat Tunnel, you can see the huge exhaust fans. You can hear them from a long way off, too. The west portal, at Winter Park, has no such fans. When the Moffat Tunnel was built, the D&RGW was operating steam.

Without further ado, here is a picture of doubleheaded D&RGW steam at the east portal, taken by the great Otto Perry, from the Denver Public Library's collection.



There is a door that closes over the east portal, and the huge fans, off to the right, clear the smoke from the tunnel, replacing it with fresh air.

This is an interesting picture, and I'm trying to figure out what's going on here. The tunnel is single track, and the train is on a siding. He's past the signal, so I don't see how he could be waiting for an eastbound train to emerge from the tunnel or for a faster westbound train to pass him and go through the tunnel ahead of him. There's no appreciable exhaust coming from the stacks, so it's unlikely he's headed into the tunnel. My guess is that those are helpers that have cut off from a westbound that has gone into the tunnel, and that they are drifting back into the siding. Certainly the westbound signal on the main track is red, as the engines have "knocked it down" (caused it to display red), even if you can't tell that from the black and white photograph. Color film was quite the extravagance, and there might not have been any color film back then in the format Otto Perry was using anyway.

The wisp of steam on the 1705, and probably on the lead engine, which looks like an articulated, is coming from a turbogenerator located above the firebox just in front of the cab. It provides electricity for the headlight and cab interior lights.

I was looking for this picture in particular to post here. I knew of its existence, having downloaded it a few years back.

The onlookers are in a bad position, but how I wish I could have been there too!

That should take care of the DU steam quota for the day.

[Botany]

6. and they did this all w/ a:

[elleng]

8. ---

:rofl:

[msongs]

11. we squander our resources on the welfare military nt

[onehandle]

13. We drove the St. Gotthard Tunnel under the Alps a couple of years ago.

It was 16.4 kilometers (10.5 miles) long and we felt like we were underground forever.

I can't imagine 57 kilometers.

[bettyellen]

18. it's going to be a railway tunnel. no need to stare out the windows at all.

[onehandle]

25. Ah. I missed that. We took the 'Chunnel' while we were in Europe too.

After we went into the tunnel, we went back to our meal and chatted.

[slackmaster]

15. Misplaced

Never mind.

[MadMaddie]

16. In the meantime in the U.S one of the largest construction

jobs was halted by a Republican.

This just in folks....the U.S takes another step back in the race of progress.

[Owl]

19. We've given our jobs to China, India, and Mexico. And waste our $ and resources on the MIC and wars

Nothing is left for America as we once knew it.

Cynical??? Our populace is so stupid/racist/misinformed/gullible/dumb I see only a deep abyss ahead.

[Ter]

20. $1,300 each?

Wow, that would never happen here.

[Psephos]

23. Each person in the US has a $40,000+ piece of the national debt.

So maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal after all. :shrug:

[Owl]

21. K&R

[unkachuck]

22. and now....

....let's build the Bering Strait Crossing,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_Strait_crossing

....I always wanted to drive to Europe....