Gotthard Base Tunnel on track to fully re-open in September

Since the derailment of a freight train in the Gotthard Base Tunnel on August 10, 2023, the Federal Railways has been forging ahead with repair works at pace. Keystone / Ti-Press / Samuel Golay

Rail operations through the Gotthard Base Tunnel will resume in full on September 2, with repair work in the west tube on track, according to Swiss Federal Railways. 

Since the derailment of a freight train in the Gotthard Base Tunnel on August 10, 2023, the Railways has been forging ahead as fast as possible with repair works. The organisation announced to the media in Bern on Thursday that this work was going as planned. 

+ Read more: why is the Gotthard Base Tunnel so important?

Test and trial operations will now follow, including trial runs with empty trains to test the new installations – in particular the track – and to check that all systems are interacting.

The Railways estimates the material damage caused by the train derailment last year, including loss of revenue, at around CHF150 million ($167 million). 

Adapted from German by DeepL/kp 

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