Grafenort – Engelberg Tunnel

Not to be confused with the Engelberg road tunnel in Germany.
Grafenort – Engelberg Tunnel
Overview
Line Luzern–Stans–Engelberg-Bahn
Operation
Constructed 2001-2010[1]
Opened December 2010
Technical
Length 4043m
Track gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 38 in)
Grade 10.5%
Portal of the tunnel in December 2010

The Grafenort – Engelberg Tunnel is a railway tunnel built on the Luzern–Stans–Engelberg-Bahn, part of the Zentralbahn in Switzerland.[2]

Historically, the Luzern–Stans–Engelberg-Bahn had a very steep 25% incline between Grafenort and Engelberg; replacing this with a more direct tunnel has shortened uphill journey times by 14 minutes, and increased capacity.[3] Thanks to timetable changes, journey times between Engelberg and Zurich/Bern have been shortened by 19 minutes.[4]

Great care had to be taken with risk assessments and mitigation; some surrounding areas are very vulnerable to floods, landslides, or avalanches.[5] Serious flooding in 2005 not only disrupted tunnel construction, but also trapped 1500 tourists in Engelberg, who had to be airlifted to safety.[6][7]

Construction of the tunnel posed several severe technical challenges;[8] this also increased the cost, to 176.5 million CHF. As the tunnel allows the use of longer, faster trains, a new power station has been built to provide additional electrical power.[9]

References

Coordinates: 46°50′15″N 8°23′09″E / 46.8374°N 8.3857°E / 46.8374; 8.3857

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