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An employee checks the rails of the Lötschberg tunnel. Photo: trapezoidal
The construction scandal surrounding the Lötschberg tunnel is widening: it will be 52 million more expensive
How much more expensive is it?
The renovation of the Lötschberg summit tunnel between Kandersteg BE and Goppenstein VS is likely to take longer and be more expensive than previously assumed. Instead of 2022, construction work, which started in 2018, is expected to finish in 2023.
So far, the costs have been estimated at about 105 million francs. However, the consortium of companies renovating the tunnel is making additional demands on the BLS. If the BLS were to comply with these demands, the costs would be 157 million Swiss francs. The BLS media office announced this Wednesday upon request.
These 157 million francs are a maximum claim and are not accepted by the Berne transport company. “We will do our best to keep the additional costs as low as possible,” writes the BLS media office. Negotiations are ongoing.
With these statements, the BLS media office confirmed a report from the Swiss television program “Rundschau” on Wednesday morning on the SRF website. The “Berner Zeitung” and its sister newspapers also reported that construction work was taking longer and costs were higher.
Why is it getting more expensive?
In an interview with SRF or in a video, the director of the Federal Office of Transportation says that such a large difference between the costs originally assumed and the actual costs is too much. “If the project had been started in earnest from the beginning, a cost estimate of 150 million francs would probably have been obtained from the beginning,” says Peter Füglistaler.
Peter Füglistaler. Photo: trapezoidal
Then it would have been agreed and financed that way. Now this detour through a bad offer and a review is necessary and that is extremely unfortunate.
The reason for the demands of the construction companies to the BLS are, according to the information provided, the gaps in the tender for the work. This resulted in a margin of interpretation when interpreting the employment contract.
“Our experts and outside experts did not realize when examining the offers that Martí was making different assumptions than the BLS,” writes the BLS media office. The Berna Marti tunnel construction company is one of the companies in charge of the renovation.
An internal BLS investigation revealed several weaknesses in the acquisition process, the BLS continues. The company wants to learn from this knowledge and in the future design the management of procurement processes in such a way that it is prepared for complex construction projects. The BLS refers to the further expansion of the Lötschberg base tunnel.
What does the construction company say?
Marti Tunnel AG did not respond to inquiries.
What is there to do in the tunnel?
In the 14.6-kilometer-long Lötschberg summit tunnel, BLS is replacing the road. The previous route of wooden and gravel sleepers will be replaced by a solid concrete track. This makes the ride quieter and the life of the concrete path is longer.
BLS car transport customers especially feel the renovation work. Wait times are to be expected, although this depends on the construction phases, as the BLS media office said Wednesday. During peak season, wagon freight trains run at full capacity on peak days; for example during vacations.
What is the BLS doing about the Blausee?
The BLS reacted to reports of rail ballast impermissibly deposited or temporarily stored at the site of a gravel factory in Mitholz BE, below Kandersteg. This ballast is now brought to Kandersteg in closed containers for the first time. Then the material arrives in Mitholz by train.
The owners of the Blausee suspect that the excavation of the Lötschberg tunnel poisoned the groundwater and is responsible for the death of the trout. Image: keystone
There it is temporarily stored in a paved area that has been dewatered according to BLS standards and is then taken to a special truck wash facility in Wimmis BE. The wooden sleepers are no longer sold to Belgium, but are “disposed of in accordance with the law”, as the BLS writes.
Operators at the Blausee fish farm near Mitholz believe that toxic substances from Mitholz railroad gravel and wooden sleepers made their way into the groundwater and from there to their farms. In mid-September they announced that thousands of fish had died. (sda)
