Tunnelling Switzerland
Switzerland is a country of tunnels. It is characterized by the tricky topography with a large proportion of mountains, the high degree of mobility and the effort to provide quantitatively good infrastructures for all parts of the country. There are roughly 1300 tunnels and galleries with a total length in excess of 2000 km to be found in Switzerland and they are continuing to be built.
The 2013 edition of “Tunnelling Switzerland” presents the impressive achievements during the past 15 years in all fields of underground engineering (road and rail tunnels, power plants, flood protection, utility tunnels etc.) taking the examples of more than 90 projects.
Following an introduction dealing with underground construction in Switzerland with details (planning, risk management, tendering and contractual matters, execution, standards and innovations as well as statistics) extensive reports accompanied by numerous illustrations on building tunnels are provided:
·The new rail routes crossing the Alps (NEAT) (Lötschberg, Gotthard and Ceneri Base Tunnels).
·Further major rail tunnels (Weinberg Tunnel/Zurich Cross-City Link, Zimmerberg Base Tunnel, Engelberg Tunnel/Zentralbahn etc.)
·50 different road tunnels (incl. motorway tunnels, enclosures, safety tunnels etc.)
·Flood relief and drainage tunnels (Thunnersee, Lyss etc.)
·Power plants/pump storage stations (Linthal/Limmern, Nante Drance and Cleusen Dixence as well as the Uetliberg drinking water tunnel)
·Maintenance and enhancing safety in tunnels (Simplon Tunnel etc.) and tunnel renovation (San Bernardino)
·Tunnel facilities for carrying out research and training in underground construction (Hagerbach Test Gallery) as well as for instructing emergency services (Lungern)
A list of projects as well as a general plan enables the required underground facility to be found easily. Numerous sources are provided to pursue further studies.
G.B.
Swiss Tunnelling Society FGU, Swiss Engineers and Architects Association (sia), 2013
490 pp., 21.5 x 30 cm, bound, with 610 Ill./Tables and 120 Sources
German/English
CHF 75,-. vdf Hochschulverlag AG at the ETH Zurich
ISBN 978-3-7281-3547-6
