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The cause of the accident was material fatigue. (Archive photo) © Urs Flueeler/KEYSTONE/dpa
After a derailment, an important north-south rail connection through the Alps was partially blocked for months. Now traffic is flowing again. Good news for rail travelers from Germany.
Pollegio – A good year after a train derailment, traffic is once again running freely through the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland. And not only that, the service has also been expanded, as the Swiss railway company SBB announced: passenger trains now run every half hour in the 57-kilometer-long railway tunnel, the longest in the world.
The Frankfurt-Milan connection is also back in operation and goes via Zurich, no longer Lucerne. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is one of the most important north-south connections through the Alps. “The Gotthard Base Tunnel (…) is central to mobility and the transport of goods in Europe,” said Swiss Transport Minister Albert Rösti at the reopening of the route in Pollegio in Ticino.
Freight traffic partially used the second tube, while passenger trains were largely diverted via a mountain route. (Archive image) © Urs Flueeler/KEYSTONE/dpa
For months, most passenger trains were diverted over a mountain route because of the repair work. This extended the journey between German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino by an hour. Freight trains ran with restrictions.
16 freight wagons jumped off the rails
On August 10, 2023, a northbound freight train derailed in the west tube of the tunnel. No one was injured. 16 freight wagons jumped off the rails 17 kilometers after the tunnel entrance.
It took months to recover the wagons, and seven kilometers of tracks were replaced. Accident investigators said the cause of the accident was a broken wheel disc. This was due to fatigue cracks in the metal that could not be detected during the usual checks. Switzerland therefore implemented stricter wheel disc checks across Europe in cooperation with other countries.
