FAIDO, Switzerland — Rail traffic through the one functioning tube of the Gotthard Base Tunnel was suspended for about six hours today (Monday, Jan. 29) after a vehicle caught fire at the southern tunnel exit near Faido, Swissinfo.ch reports, citing reports from SRF, Swiss public radio.
The vehicle, belonging to a security firm, caught fire at about 8:20 a.m. Some 29 workers had to be evacuated by rescue train from the tunnel, with 10 taken to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Only freight traffic was affected by the closure, as passenger trains currently run through the tunnel only Friday through Sunday and are rerouted via the Gotthard Pass panoramic route the rest of the week [see “Gotthard Pass revival,” Trains Magazine, March 2024]
One tube of the two-bore tunnel has been closed since an Aug. 10, 2023, derailment in the tunnel; repairs are expected to continue until September [see “Gotthard Base Tunnel repairs make take until September 2024,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 2, 2023].
