BERN, Switzerland — Freight and passenger traffic will increase through the Gotthard Base Tunnel in March, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) announced on Tuesday, Feb. 7, with tunnel scheduling accommodating additional passenger traffic during the Easter holiday period.
Tunnel traffic has been disrupted since an Aug. 10, 2023, derailment that closed one bore of the two-bore tunnel, the world’s longest rail tunnel, with full restoration of service not expected until September [see “Gotthard Base Tunnel repairs may take until September 2024,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 2, 2023].
Beginning March 2, an additional seven passenger trains will use the undamaged east bore of the tunnel, including an early Monday-through-Friday train for those commuting from the southern canton of Ticino to German-speaking Switzerland. This train will depart Chiasso at 5:30 a.m. and make seven intermediate stops before arriving in Basel at 8:56 a.m. Freight traffic will also increase because of the ability to use the northern third of the western tube during the week. SBB says this will allow trains to be shifted from the Simplon route, which is important because that route is scheduled to be closed for construction over an 18-kilometer (11-mile) segment just south of Switzerland between Arona and Stresa, Italy, between June 9 and Sept. 8.
Meanwhile, during the Easter period between March 28 and April 1, SBB will offer 49 additional trains, with approximately 49,000 additional seats, on the two Gotthard routes, with “a large proportion” operating through the base tunnel. This will be possible through rerouting of freight traffic via the Simplon route during the period. Reservations are strongly recommended during the period, as overcrowded trains cannot operate through the base tunnel for safety reasons.
Tunnel repairs continue according to plan, SBB reports, with high-speed switches at the Faido multifunction point — damaged by the derailment — having been replaced. The rail operator continues to expect to resume normal tunnel operations in September.
