This old route refurbishment work seems essential to take the full traffic on the corridor for a while if the base tunnel requires complete closure as envisaged for around 8 months to implement planned 'partial' as opposed to 'full' completion work, should the Swiss Parliament choose this option by early 2023. The partial option, already planned in some detail, would provide a further 14km of additional track in an already bored tunnel that has yet to be been fully fitted out, leaving just 7km of single track at the northern end where boring has not yet commenced. The unused 14km tunnel is a blind stub, so closure is required is to construct a new junction cavern connecting to the active bore deep under the mountains.
The current 21km single track section is a major challenge for planning and performance, requiring heroic-scale 'flighting' of traffic convoys in alternating directions to handle the 100+ trains a day scheduled. 'Partial' would vastly improve capacity and flexibility, enabling a half-hourly regular interval intercity passenger service and allow the last remaining freight to be removed from the legacy route. 'Full' would improve capacity further, clearly, and enhance real-time flexibility, reliability, maintainability, etc. Most importantly it would avoid any extended complete construction closure of the base tunnel. No doubt there would still be a series of short no traffic commissioning periods for systems changeover.
The Lötschberg Base Tunnel is the centrepiece of the BLS infrastructure and a central element of the NRLA, the New Rail Link through the Alps. BLS upgrades the Tunnel.
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