Between the Alps and a hard place [rail network modernisation]

Neutral Switzerland is being invaded-by armies of cars and trucks from its neighbors. So to preserve its great natural environment, while doing its best by the increased traffic, its citizenry plans to divert some of the freight to rail. The author describes how a 15-year program for modernizing the Swiss railway system has been drawn up, of which one element is the world's longest tunnel, the 57-km Gotthard Tunnel under the Alps. The 15-year US $26 billion rail program comprises two large projects, Bahn 2000 and the New Alpine Transversal. Bahn (or Rail) 2000 will renew the main-line network, rebuilding the East-West intercity links in the Alpine foothills for faster transit among Geneva, Zurich, Basel, Bern, Lausanne, Interlaken, and Chur. To handle Europe's North-South transit, the New Alpine Transversal (NEAT) will augment existing mountain lines through the Alps with new tunnels. Tourism as well as trade should benefit.<
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