Швейцариядағы теміржол туннелі: Готард туннелінің тарихы

Railway tunnel in Switzerland
the 1882 rail tunnel
The tunnel rises from the northern portal at Göschenen and the highest point is reached after approximately After two more kilometers, the border between the cantons of Uri and Ticino is passed; after another , the tunnel ends at the southern portal near to Airolo The trip takes about seven to eight minutes by train. Services are operated by the Swiss Federal Railways.

The origins of the Gotthard Tunnel and its construction can be traced back to the widely felt desire to improve interconnectivity between the European nations. In the 1840s, the two cantons then joined forces with the Ticino for a tunnel through the Lukmanier. Accordingly, the Gotthard Railway Company was established in 1871 to develop such a route, the company being initially operated under the stewardship of the accomplished Swiss industrialist Alfred Escher. Prior to its formation, surveys had been conducted that determined the optimum locations for either end of the prospective tunnel to be at Göschenen and Airolo. Even prior to the onset of construction activity, the location of the tunnel presented challenges that exceeded those of the earlier Fréjus Rail Tunnel; due to both the steepness and height of the summits, surveys using direct observation were impossible, thus more complex indirect techniques combining triangulation and accurate cartography were performed by a team headed by M. Gelpke, and subsequently confirmed by a second team led by M. Koppe via different methodology.]] The conditions present in either of the bores were thoroughly inhospitable during the tunnel's construction, particularly in the bore driven from Airolo, where vapours were persistently present throughout the work. Of those that survived, several suffered from serious health issues caused by an epidemic of hookworm infection (Ancylostoma duodenale). Medical investigations led to "major advances in parasitology, by way of research into the aetiology, epidemiology and treatment of ancylostomiasis". During 1875, the workforce went on strike; this was promptly violently suppressed by local police force (21 men) from Altdorf, resulting in four deaths amongst the workers and the wounding of 13 others. Consequently, 80 workers left the building site afterwards. Following this milestone, a further two years of construction work continued upon the tunnel. Initially, the tunnel was operated by the private railway company Gotthardbahn, which ran conventional trains drawn by steam locomotives between Lucerne and Chiasso at the Italian border. According to Gautier, at the time of the tunnel's construction, there were proposal to operate trains hauled by atmospheric locomotives through the tunnel; however, he voiced his scepticism over the value of doing so in comparison to the additional work that would need to be performed to facilitate such rolling stock being operated. There were also some concerns over the tunnel's ventilation being sufficient considering the challenging conditions encountered during construction, but it was believed that these would settle during routine operations without the need for extensive intervention. During 1932, a memorial for those workers who had died during the tunnel's construction was erected close to the station building at Airolo. The memorial contains a relief produced by Vincenzo Vela from 1882/1883, titled "Vittime del lavoro" (Victims of labour). Until the opening of the Gotthard Road Tunnel in 1980, the Swiss Federal Railways offered car shuttle train services for cars and trucks through the Gotthard Tunnel. Today, that service exists as the rolling highway from the German to the Italian border and aims to reduce truck traffic on Swiss expressways. An improvisational piggyback service from Göschenen to Airolo was offered during the two month closure of the Gotthard Road Tunnel following a fatal fire caused by a collision in 2001.

The adjacent ramps include several turn tunnels (see Table of turn tunnels). While a triumph of its era and an example of pioneering engineering, the Gotthard Tunnel was considered to be relatively slow to traverse by twentieth century standards, leading to talk of building a superior successor tunnel as early as the 1940s.