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Albula Tunnel
The Albula Tunnel is the centrepiece of the Albula Railway, which forms part of the Rhaetian Railway network, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. With its maximum elevation of 1,820 m (5,970 ft) above sea level, it is amongst the highest tunnels in the Alps, and has a mountain overlay of up to 950 m (3,120 ft). The original tunnel has a length of 5,865 m (3.644 mi) and was opened for traffic in 1903.
The northern portal of the tunnel is at Preda, in Bergün Filisur, and the southern portal at Spinas, in the Bever valley. At a total length of 5,865 m (3.644 mi), the tunnel connects the Albula Valley with the Engadin Valley, and, in so doing, passes under the watershed between the Rhine and the Danube a few kilometres west of the Albula Pass. The tunnel serves both passenger and freight traffic. The Glacier Express passes through it daily. During the winter season, car transporter trains operating between Thusis and Samedan also used the tunnel until 2011.
Due to the threat of rockfalls and general deterioration over time, it was planned for the original tunnel to have been renovated during the 2020s.[citation needed] But in 2010, the Rhaetian Railway announced that it had identified the construction of a second tunnel alongside the first as its preferred option, with one of several reasons being a relatively minor difference in cost. Costed at around CHF 244 million, construction commenced during 2014. In comparison to the original Albula Tunnel, the new bore is considerably larger due to newer operational and safety standards. The second tunnel was opened to traffic on June 12, 2024, with completion of the project including refurbishment of the original tunnel by 2025. Once completed, around 15,000 trains are predicted to use the tunnel each year; it has been built to allow for a maximum speed of 120 km/h (75 mph).
The Albula Tunnel is a major feature of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), an extensive metre-gauge network in the southeast of Switzerland that was launched during 1889. The railway's management had placed a significant emphasis on the line being attractive to the growing tourism market, thus the line traverses the northern valleys in a deliberately spectacular manner. The highest point of the line, being roughly 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) above sea level, is where the Albula tunnel was constructed.
The construction effort was impacted by multiple unusual problems. The cold, 6 °C (42.8 °F), water outflows transformed the already fractured rock into a pulpy mass, regularly clogging up the shell of the northern tunnel lead (or adit). At the same time, a strong water source above the northern tunnel portal dried up. The water streaming in at 300 L/s (66 impgal/s; 79 USgal/s) had to be painstakingly diverted with pipelines. As a result, construction virtually came to a standstill: in the ten weeks from May 1900, only two metres (6.6 ft) of tunnel were driven. These difficulties could not be overcome by the head construction contractor Ronchi & Carlotti, which entered into bankruptcy.[citation needed]
From 1 April 1901, the Rhaetian Railway took the construction work into its own hands. With the use of a bonus system, it was able to regain part of the lost time. At 03:00 hours on 29 May 1902, the breakthrough of the two tunnel leads was achieved, at a point 3,030.5 m (9,943 ft) from the north portal, and 2,835 m (9,301 ft), from the south portal.
The finished tunnel had a length of 5,864 metres and contained a single track. It cost 7,828,000 Swiss francs to build. A total of 1,316 people were employed in the tunnel's construction. Overall, there were 16 fatal accidents involving construction workers; a stone memorial to commemorate these victims has been placed at the Preda station.[citation needed]
On July 1, 1903, the tunnel was opened to traffic. Early working of the tunnel was by steam locomotives, however both it and the entire route were later electrified using the standardised 11 kV, 16+2⁄3Hz system. Various passenger services use the tunnel on a routine basis, such as the luxurious Glacier Express. According to industry publication Rail Engineer, the danger posed by rock falls became ever-present towards the latter half of the twentieth century.
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Albula Tunnel
The Albula Tunnel is the centrepiece of the Albula Railway, which forms part of the Rhaetian Railway network, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. With its maximum elevation of 1,820 m (5,970 ft) above sea level, it is amongst the highest tunnels in the Alps, and has a mountain overlay of up to 950 m (3,120 ft). The original tunnel has a length of 5,865 m (3.644 mi) and was opened for traffic in 1903.
The northern portal of the tunnel is at Preda, in Bergün Filisur, and the southern portal at Spinas, in the Bever valley. At a total length of 5,865 m (3.644 mi), the tunnel connects the Albula Valley with the Engadin Valley, and, in so doing, passes under the watershed between the Rhine and the Danube a few kilometres west of the Albula Pass. The tunnel serves both passenger and freight traffic. The Glacier Express passes through it daily. During the winter season, car transporter trains operating between Thusis and Samedan also used the tunnel until 2011.
Due to the threat of rockfalls and general deterioration over time, it was planned for the original tunnel to have been renovated during the 2020s.[citation needed] But in 2010, the Rhaetian Railway announced that it had identified the construction of a second tunnel alongside the first as its preferred option, with one of several reasons being a relatively minor difference in cost. Costed at around CHF 244 million, construction commenced during 2014. In comparison to the original Albula Tunnel, the new bore is considerably larger due to newer operational and safety standards. The second tunnel was opened to traffic on June 12, 2024, with completion of the project including refurbishment of the original tunnel by 2025. Once completed, around 15,000 trains are predicted to use the tunnel each year; it has been built to allow for a maximum speed of 120 km/h (75 mph).
The Albula Tunnel is a major feature of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), an extensive metre-gauge network in the southeast of Switzerland that was launched during 1889. The railway's management had placed a significant emphasis on the line being attractive to the growing tourism market, thus the line traverses the northern valleys in a deliberately spectacular manner. The highest point of the line, being roughly 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) above sea level, is where the Albula tunnel was constructed.
The construction effort was impacted by multiple unusual problems. The cold, 6 °C (42.8 °F), water outflows transformed the already fractured rock into a pulpy mass, regularly clogging up the shell of the northern tunnel lead (or adit). At the same time, a strong water source above the northern tunnel portal dried up. The water streaming in at 300 L/s (66 impgal/s; 79 USgal/s) had to be painstakingly diverted with pipelines. As a result, construction virtually came to a standstill: in the ten weeks from May 1900, only two metres (6.6 ft) of tunnel were driven. These difficulties could not be overcome by the head construction contractor Ronchi & Carlotti, which entered into bankruptcy.[citation needed]
From 1 April 1901, the Rhaetian Railway took the construction work into its own hands. With the use of a bonus system, it was able to regain part of the lost time. At 03:00 hours on 29 May 1902, the breakthrough of the two tunnel leads was achieved, at a point 3,030.5 m (9,943 ft) from the north portal, and 2,835 m (9,301 ft), from the south portal.
The finished tunnel had a length of 5,864 metres and contained a single track. It cost 7,828,000 Swiss francs to build. A total of 1,316 people were employed in the tunnel's construction. Overall, there were 16 fatal accidents involving construction workers; a stone memorial to commemorate these victims has been placed at the Preda station.[citation needed]
On July 1, 1903, the tunnel was opened to traffic. Early working of the tunnel was by steam locomotives, however both it and the entire route were later electrified using the standardised 11 kV, 16+2⁄3Hz system. Various passenger services use the tunnel on a routine basis, such as the luxurious Glacier Express. According to industry publication Rail Engineer, the danger posed by rock falls became ever-present towards the latter half of the twentieth century.