Alpine gate tunnels of Sedrun (Ch)
Porta Alpina (English: Alpine Gate) was a proposed railway station to be located in the middle of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in southern Switzerland. The project was put on indefinite hold in 2007. Porta Alpina was proposed to be located near a crossover between the northbound and southbound tunnels. It was to be linked to the surface by the world's highest elevator, using shafts built near the village of Sedrun for the construction of the tunnel. Construction costs were estimated at 40-50 million Swiss francs, with annual operating costs of million francs. The station was to open in 2015 when the Base Tunnel is scheduled to come into service. Proponents of Porta Alpina viewed it both as a potential tourist attraction in its own right, and as a useful transport link. The station would have connected the North/South Gotthard railway line with the East/West Rhaetian Railway/Matterhorn-Gotthard Railway, which would link to the elevator by means of local buses to Sedrun station (MGB) and Disentis station (RhB). This was to have been the fastest public transport link between Zürich and the canton of Graubünden. The project was initially positively received, and the Swiss parliament approved CHF million of startup funding in 2005. However, further studies indicated substantial problems including the questionable feasibility of the elevators, the negative impact on tunnel rail capacity and the unprofitability of the whole enterprise. The Swiss Federal Council and the government of the canton of Grisons announced in September 2007 that the project was put on indefinite hold.
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Photo credit: © mauro rinaldi / Alamy / Afripics
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