[ad_1]
Time is of the essence, pressure is great. SBB wants to put the Ceneri Base Tunnel (CBT) into operation on December 13, if possible without breakdowns. The big project cost the taxpayer a staggering 3.6 billion Swiss francs! With a length of 15.4 kilometers, the tunnel is the third largest construction project of the New Alpine Transversal (NEAT), after the Lötschberg and Gotthard base tunnels.
Alp Transit Gotthard AG was responsible for the construction. Intensive testing has been done in recent days and weeks. They have now been completed and the megaproject was officially handed over to SBB on Tuesday. The first test drives took place on Wednesday night. Two emergency scenarios were tested: a train fire and a technical defect. VIEW looked over the shoulders of the tunnel professionals.
Regio-Zug suddenly fills with smoke
From the outset, the project manager, Daniel Salzmann, solemnly announced that the building was “unprecedentedly safe”. In an emergency, almost everything runs automatically.
From Bellinzona, SBB’s fleet technicians are now taking the train into the tunnel. Just minutes after crossing the north portal at Camorino, a compartment suddenly fills with smoke. Nervousness germinates. It feels like a fire has broken out. Fortunately, what seems like an emergency and should work that way is just practice.
The fire alarm goes off, the train automatically slows down and stops. At the same time, the light in the tunnel is turned on. Passengers are asked to get off the train. “There is always a protected area at a distance of 300 meters,” says Salzmann. “Here passengers can be safe in case of fire.” A corridor leads to the second tunnel tube that runs parallel. In this an overpressure is generated that makes the smoke recede. From there, the rescue train takes you outside.
Only the most modern tunnels are equipped with such safety zones and crossings. “Ideally, however, there will be no fire,” says Salzmann. “The system detects defects in the trains and stops them earlier.” But what if a technical defect occurs in the tunnel despite the latest generation sensors? This scenario is simulated in the second part of the exercise.
The intervention team is summoned
“Now we are requesting a fire and rescue train,” says Tom Gut of Life Cycle Management. “We will use it to tow the passengers into the stopped car.” In fact, the rescue train arrives a few minutes later. The emergency services of the intervention team, so to speak, the fire brigade of SBB, hang up the defective wagons and take them to Lugano.
After the emergency braking test was successful a little later, those responsible were relieved. Because the forces that act in a composition are enormous. Trains can reach speeds of up to 230 km / h in the tunnel. “We are very satisfied,” says Gut. “I’m not surprised. Our people are well trained and highly motivated to do these kinds of tests.” Now he expects the tests to run without accidents or interruptions. So nothing stands in the way of the December launch.
SBB for the time change in 2021: Zurich to Lugano TI in less than two hours!(02:31)
