EN: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimsel_Tunnel
DE: https://www.grimseltunnel.ch/
FR: https://www.grimseltunnel.ch/fr/
IT: https://www.swissgrid.ch/it/home/projects/project-overview/innertkirchen-ulrichen.html
The region between Berner Oberland, Valais/Wallis, and Uri, is called “Grimsel”. Maybe you have heard of the Grimsel Mountain Pass that connects Berner Oberland and Upper Valais (Oberwallis: the region after Brig toward Uri).
Swissgrid (Swiss electricity company) wants to build a tunnel through which the electricity grid will pass that connects Upper Valais/Oberwallis and Berner Oberland. Some people have suggested to build a second parallel tunnel for a one track railway. So the railway could use the electricity grid to be powered, and there would be a railway connection between Upper Valais/Oberwallis and Berner Oberland.
There would be a few underground stations along the railway where there would be a double track railway, so trains can pass in both directions. And there would be stairs and elevators to go to the surface. So the current PostAuto/CarPostal line through the Grimsel Pass would be mostly replaced by the underground railway
I actually would find it useful if the Matterhorn Gotthardbahn (railway in Uppper Valais/Oberwallis) and Zentralbahn (railway in Berner Oberland) would be connected. They could maybe create another “Glacier Express” that instead of going from Valais to Graubunden/Grisons, could go to Berner Oberland up to Lucerne, or even from Graubunden via Valais to Berner Oberland and then Lucerne
But I heard recently that the costs of building this tunnel aren’t clear. Recently, some engineers have claimed it would cost less than 1 billion CHF, but others have claimed that it will cost at least several billion CHF, without taking into account maintenance costs. So my question is: how likely is it that this tunnel will be built ?
https://old.reddit.com/r/Switzerland/comments/1c4qfaj/will_the_grimsel_tunnel_be_built_or_not/
Posted by GetOutBasel
3 Comments
It’s not like there isn’t a tunnel from Kandersteg to Goppenstein and a road to Goms from there.
Very long tunnel for very little benefit. While it sounds awesome, from an economic perspective it makes little sense.
Expanding the Lötschberg base tunnel to full double track will give a better ROI.
The postal bus takes you through an interesting mountain landscape. The Grimsel tunnel would take you through a black hole.