Ligerz Tunnel

Ligerz Tunnel
	Model of the future tunnel
Overview
Line	Jura Foot Line
Operation
Opens	2026
Technical
Length	2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)

The Ligerz Tunnel (French: Tunnel de Gléresse) is a railway tunnel under construction at the southern foot of the Jura Railway line in Switzerland. The last single-track section of the southern Jura line is to be eliminated by the double-track tunnel. This bottleneck between the service stations at Chavannes [de] (German: Schafis) and Twann (French: Douanne) on the Biel–Neuchâtel route is currently preventing rail traffic from being densified. The planned costs amount to 431.9 million Swiss francs (470 million US dollars).^[1]

The tunnel is part of the STEP 2030 project and should be completed by December 2026. The tunnel will enable a continuous half-hourly service on the line.

It will run on the sea side and largely parallel to the existing road tunnel of Motorway number 5, which forms the Ligerz bypass.

The Twann station is to be modernized. The previous stop Ligerz will be removed and replaced by a bus line. This should open up the village of Ligerz and the Ligerz-Tessenberg railway from Twann, and an extension of the future bus line to La Neuveville is also under discussion.

The construction of the Ligerz Tunnel will be financed by the new Railway Infrastructure Fund (RIF), which Swiss voters accepted on February 9, 2014, with the FABI proposal.

References[edit]

^ Burroughs, David (12 April 2022). "Construction begins on Switzerland's Gléresse tunnel". International Railway Journal. Retrieved 12 April 2022.

External links[edit]

SBB project site (in German)

[1] Burroughs, David (12 April 2022). "Construction begins on Switzerland's Gléresse tunnel". International Railway Journal. Retrieved 12 April 2022.

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