BASF MEYCO Fireshield 1350 fire protection mortar was used on this project   Sinking of 800 m-deep Sedrun shaft commenced February, 1999 by jv of Murer, Shaft Sinkers, Locher, Marti, Zschokke and CSC. April 1999.   Tenders invited for 2,646 m-long Faido access tunnel at Mairengo and Amsteg access tunnel. Also Bodio service tunnel 3,162 m-long and 5 m-diameter with two cut-and-cover tunnels at 380 m each. May 1999.   North portal to Sedrun is 21 km; Sedrun to Faido is 19 km; Faido to south portal is 16 km. Sedrun and Faido are construction accesses and will be retained as emergency exits during operation of the railway. At Sedrun there will be two crossovers together with passenger unloading facilities in separately-ventilated galleries to be excavated off-line. Amsteg access is for construction and maintenance purposes only. At this stage it is anticipated that the Sedrun section will be advanced by drill/blast on four faces off the shaft starting February, 2000. Two TBMs will drive from the north portal position towards Sedrun and another two TBMs will drive from the south portal; two TBMs will drive south from Amsteg commencing early-2002 and another TBM will drive from Bodio following on 400 m of preparatory cut-and-cover in blocky alluvial ground and 420 m drill/blast with grouting; two TBMs will drive north from Faido starting end-2002; and the final launch should be from Erstfeld in mid-2003. The south end of the tunnels will be segmentally or concrete lined, and elsewhere shotcrete, waterprooof membrane and in-situ concrete will be standard. The invert will be concreted in-situ throughout. Rock temperature will be 45 degrees C, provoking maximum air temperature of 35 degrees C and humidity of 70 %. Working temperature will be reduced by circulating cooling water to the faces from refrigeration plants on surface. Sedrun already has a 10 MW plant. Project has been divided into five main contract lots. Each of the three central lots will employ 500 men; the south lot 400 men; and the north lot 300 men. See also ch/20 – 22 below. October 1999. Shaft Sinkers of South Africa reported completion of a 800-metre vertical shaft at Sedrun. The contract also included a ventilation shaft and a cavern more than 2,000 metres below the surface. A new phase in the construction of the world's longest railway tunnel is about to begin now with the drill-and-blast of two pairs of tunnels from the cavern in both directions between the middle of next year to the end of 2007. Visit www.alptransit.ch 42/01. Click ch/19 and ch/22 To complete the first stage of AlpTransit and finance the second stage, further investment will be necessary for a total of CHF600 to 800 million. The Swiss Parliament has to approve the new funding next summer. The cost estimate for the first stage of AlpTransit - which includes a first phase with the Lötschberg and Gotthard base tunnels and a second phase with the Mount Ceneri and Zimmerberg tunnels - is CHF14.7 billion. However, unforeseen geological conditions in Faido at the Gotthard base tunnel and the decision to build a twin tube instead of a bidirectional tunnel under Mount Ceneri or safety improvements in the tunnels will cost an extra CHF520 million. Consequently, reserves dropped to CHF249 million as of 31st December, 2002. Another CHF50 million will also be submitted in Parliament for the second stage, which includes the underground crossing of the Uri valley. This stage, programmed for the 2010-2020 decade, will consist in lengthening the Gotthard base tunnel so that the line will run in tunnel on 75 km instead of 57, from Brunnen to Bodio. A final decision will be made in 2007. The Lötschberg base tunnel is 75% complete while the Gotthard base tunnel is 20% complete. Visit www.alptransit.ch and www.blsalptransit.ch 15/03.Following an out-of-court agreement between the project owner AlpTransit Gotthard and Schweizer Bahntechnik Konsortium and once the contract is signed, which is scheduled for spring 2008, Transtec Gotthard will draw up the implementation plans to begin installing railway technology in the Gotthard base tunnel in 2009. On 4th May, 2007, Transtec Gotthard was awarded the contract for railway technology but the decision was attacked in justice by the defeated consortium Schweizer Bahntechnik. Read E-News Weekly 24/2007. The order is worth CHF1.69 billion and construction is scheduled to last until 2016. Zurich-based Atel Installationstechnik leads the Transtec Gotthard consortium, whose other members are Alcatel-Lucent, Thales Rail Signalling Solutions (TRSS), Alpine Mayreder and Balfour Beatty Rail. Visit www.transtecgotthard.ch, www.atel.eu, www.thalesgroup.com, www.alpine.at and www.bbrail.comTranstec Gotthard is also aided by a number of other partners, among which Kummler+Matter, Pöyry Infra and Scheuchzer. Visit www.kuma.ch, www.ewi.ch or www.poyry.com and www.scheuchzer.chOnce the federal office of transport has granted its approval, work on installation of the railway technology systems is scheduled to begin at the south portal in Biasca around the beginning of 2009, and at the north portal in Erstfeld around 2012. The construction period is around seven years. The Gotthard base tunnel is scheduled to go into commercial operation in 2017. The work covers installation of railway technology facilities in the two one-track tunnel tubes, each 57 kilometres in length, and the outdoor routes connecting the existing rail network. The railway technology to be installed includes the track, power supply and cabling, lighting and power installations, overhead lines and switching stations, tunnel instrumentation and controls, data networks and operational communications, tunnel communication systems and signal boxes, process control systems and a new signalling and train security system.Before these systems can be installed in the tunnel, extensive systems for logistics and transport such as construction railway, workshops, storage depots, accommodation, ventilation and air conditioning systems, power supply, radio and telephone systems need to temporarily set up. Visit www.alptransit.ch 03/08.Pöyry has been awarded an engineering services contract in the Gotthard base tunnel project by the Swiss Transtec Gotthard consortium. The assignment comprises support of the operational management, technical coordination and planning integration. The value of the contract is about EUR10 million. AlpTransit Gotthard as owner awarded the Transtec Gotthard consortium the work contract for the installation of the railway technology in the Gotthard base tunnel. Transtec Gotthard comprises Atel Installationstechnik, Alcatel-Lucent Schweiz, TRSS Thales Rail Signalling Solutions, Alpine Bau and Balfour Beatty Rail. The consortium's contract is for implementation planning and installation of the railway installations and involves equipping the two single-track tunnels, each with a length of 57 km, as well as the overground lines to the north and south with a total length of around 11 km. Installation of the railway systems through the south entrance will start in the second half of 2009, and through the north entrance at Erstfeld at the end of 2011. Commercial operation of the world's longest railway tunnel with scheduled train services is planned to start at the end of 2017. Visit www.poyry.com, www.transtec-gotthard.ch and www.neat.ch/pages/e/index.php 20/08.