The Furka Tunnel Is Open at Last
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Furka Tunnel is open at last Autor(en): Meier, Mariann Objekttyp: Article Zeitschrift: The Swiss observer : the journal of the Federation of Swiss Societies in the UK Band (Jahr): - (1982) Heft 1792 PDF erstellt am: 27.09.2021 Persistenter Link: http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-687212 Nutzungsbedingungen Die ETH-Bibliothek ist Anbieterin der digitalisierten Zeitschriften. Sie besitzt keine Urheberrechte an den Inhalten der Zeitschriften. Die Rechte liegen in der Regel bei den Herausgebern. Die auf der Plattform e-periodica veröffentlichten Dokumente stehen für nicht-kommerzielle Zwecke in Lehre und Forschung sowie für die private Nutzung frei zur Verfügung. Einzelne Dateien oder Ausdrucke aus diesem Angebot können zusammen mit diesen Nutzungsbedingungen und den korrekten Herkunftsbezeichnungen weitergegeben werden. Das Veröffentlichen von Bildern in Print- und Online-Publikationen ist nur mit vorheriger Genehmigung der Rechteinhaber erlaubt. Die systematische Speicherung von Teilen des elektronischen Angebots auf anderen Servern bedarf ebenfalls des schriftlichen Einverständnisses der Rechteinhaber. Haftungsausschluss Alle Angaben erfolgen ohne Gewähr für Vollständigkeit oder Richtigkeit. Es wird keine Haftung übernommen für Schäden durch die Verwendung von Informationen aus diesem Online-Angebot oder durch das Fehlen von Informationen. Dies gilt auch für Inhalte Dritter, die über dieses Angebot zugänglich sind. Ein Dienst der ETH-Bibliothek ETH Zürich, Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zürich, Schweiz, www.library.ethz.ch http://www.e-periodica.ch NINE years of disappointments have ended. enthusiasm was widespread. The Furka Base Tunnel was inaugurated on The actual inauguration celebration took June 25. place at the eastern tunnel opening at Realp, At the beginning was the dream of the while on the Valais side, at Oberwald in the then Federal Councillor Roger Bonvin who Goms, a festive procession of official guests visualised a narrow-gauge railway network at was organised, taking them to the marquee. an altitude of 1500m. A modest credit of Sfr. Federal Councillor Schlumpf cut the ribbon, 30 million was granted but then came the which symbolically gave the green light for first disappointments - bad rocks and sub- the first train. He maintained that much of lack soil, miscalculations, of money. the credit must go to the former Federal Parliament helped again and again, and Councillor Bonvin, the "real Furka pioneer." millions and more millions were swallowed The Bishops of Chur and Sion and the the famous and infamous by "Furka-Hole". abbot of the monastery of Disentis gave the As the Neue Zürcher Zeitung said, the Furka Church's benediction and consecrated the Base Tunnel is an unwanted child for which great work. the Confederation has accepted It was right, too, that the men who did the responsibility and has taken it in care, even difficult work, who had to grapple with it is its father. though not achieved the splendid result, rightly technical problems and face nature's Yet the Furka-Oberalp Railway considers acclaimed as the longest narrow-gauge hostilities, should have been given great the tunnel as a gift from God, for the new railway tunnel in the world. praise. tunnel allows the trains to run regularly even Sadly, the Glacier Express from Zermatt to There was, no doubt, a lot of muddling in the worst winter and a service can be now St. Moritz "loses its glacier", as an article in and miscalculation initially, but as the chair- guaranteed all the round. year the Basler Zeitung declared last autumn. The man of the Furka Railway said, the tunnel Much will be saved in money no traveller will no longer see the "vitriol-blue was "living federal and inter-cantonal longer having to clear snow and on heavy crevasses" of the Rhone glacier, which solidarity without which nothing great can be expenditure for repairing electric installations Goethe thus described. achieved". The mountain regions would now and rails after winter damage. The last journey took place on October be released from their isolation. The "Faltbrücke" of Steffenbach had be to 11 last year and the run on the trains up to Perhaps the Valais and the Grisons will taken down autumn because of the every that date was tremendous. More than a third profit more than the Urserental where, of avalanches and then be erected danger more passengers were transported than the according to the Luzerner/Zuger/ stations had be every spring. Signal to previous year. Nidwaldner Tagblatt, they do not have the dismantled and put up again. Incidentally, the Rhone glacier belongs to many facilities of the well-developed tourist The Furka-Oberalp-Bahn began operating the famous Seiler hôteliers family. They industry. But although more cautious, they the first part of the route, Brigue-Gletsch, on purchased the inn (built in 1830) 30 years too expect an increase in tourist traffic. June 30, 1914. Today its length covers later and developed it to the well-known During the past two years, Switzerland has 115km, including the Schöllenenbahn from Hotel Glacier du Rhône. They later built the realised several great tunnel projects. First, i; Göschenen to Andermatt. The Furka Tunnel Hotel Belvédère. June 1980, was the fast SFR line which cor was only part of the original idea which also At one time, due to the favourable posi- nects the international airport at Kloten/ covered a tunnel the connecting to Bedretto tion at the foot of the pass routes Furka and Zurich with the rest of the Swiss railway Valley and to the Gotthard Airolo. It route at Grimsel, already used by the Romans, some network. The 13.4 km include 5.9 km of tun- alone emerged. 150 carrier horses were kept there and in nel. The initial estimate of Sfr. 70 million Andermatt, Airolo, Meiringen and Brienz. It In September 1980 came the opening of and became a five-year building period 311 was not until 1914 that the railway came, the longest road tunnel in the world, the million and nine The first years. grant was and only in 1926 was it possible to travel by Gotthard-Strassentunnel - 17 km long. made in 1970 and the work began in 1973. train the whole way to Disentis. Then followed the Seelisberg tunnei Three years later, a further 85 million had to With the new tunnel the journey from Zer- where the two "tubes" of 9.3 km each be made available. matt to St.Moritz has been shortened by half became operational. And now the longest The through was cutting completed on an hour. The tourist managers of both narrow-gauge railway tunnel in the world has and after and April 30,1981, now, nine years resorts are co-operating in providing special become a reality. a total of Sfr. 311 million, the tunnel is attractions, and various package tours are The first road tunnel, of 700 m, was com- operational. The Confederation carried 94.6 available. pleted in Switzerland 275 years ago. That was cent of the the Canton per cost, of Valais 3.5 The Swiss National Tourist Office in the Umerloch on the Gotthard Pass route in and Uri and the Grisons per cent 0.95 per London's Swiss Centre (telephone 01-734 the Schöllenen Gorge. The first railway each. cent 1921, or in writing to 10 Wardour Street, which went from Zurich to Baden, in 1847, As the Neue Zürcher Zeitung said, the W1V 3HG) will give you information about needed a tunnel opening of about 100 m three will cantons soon forget the delay and the Glacier Express package tour as well as through the Schlossberg in Baden. the enormous cost as they are delighted with on many other holiday opportunities. Switzerland's topographical conditions a "winter-proof' railway connection between If the early history of the Furka Base demand the construction of tunnels and the Goms and the Urserental and the Tunnel was beset with great problems, the Swiss engineers have built them, often increase in the value of the promising tourist official opening in June was certainly against great odds. But they have persevered two alpine regions. favoured with splendid weather. All the ob- and succeeded and they deserve recognition Their co-operation with the constructors jections, critics' warnings and the worries and praise. was considerable, and together they were forgotten in great jubilation. The Mariann Meier 'Gift from God' guarantees a service all the year round il.