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🚇 How the Gotthard Base Tunnel Was Built

Follow the Gotthard Base Tunnel from a low-gradient route through the Alps to the gripper machines, surveying, heat, water, and railway systems that made the tunnel usable.

4
lessons
~20 min
to learn
Adults
level
Start the course →

What you’ll learn

  1. A mountain, a route, a machinePlace the Gotthard Base Tunnel in its geographic and railway context.Why Switzerland chose a deep, low-gradient route and how four TBMs shared the work.
  2. How the boring machine bitesExplain how a hard-rock gripper TBM cuts, anchors, and advances.The cutter head, gripper pads, thrust cylinders, and mobile factory work as one machine.
  3. The work behind the faceConnect excavation to the environmental and logistical work underground.Rock removal, support, heat, water, cooling, and surveying determine the pace of progress.
  4. When the machine becomes a tunnelUnderstand why breakthrough was only one stage in creating a railway.The TBM’s void becomes a monitored, powered, connected railway network—and a lasting public artifact.

Questions this course answers

What lets a gripper TBM push its cutter head forward?

The gripper pads anchor the machine against the rock while hydraulic thrust cylinders push the cutter head forward.

Why was a low-gradient base tunnel useful for freight trains?

The base route is much flatter than the older mountain railway, helping heavy trains cross the Alps.

Which part of the TBM carries broken rock away from the cutter head?

Conveyors move excavated material away from the face and into the wider underground logistics chain.

Why did breakthrough not mean the railway was ready to open?

Excavation created the spaces; many railway, safety, and systems installations still had to be completed and tested.

What should you picture when you hear that the Gotthard Base Tunnel is 57.1 kilometres long?

The record describes a large railway system with twin tubes, stations, cross-passages, and supporting installations.

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