No to the Porta Alpina

15 May 2012
Next stop: Porta Alpina
Next stop: Porta Alpina

In 2006, initial blasting takes place in the east bore of the Gotthard Base Tunnel for the planned Porta Alpina, which ultimately is not built. The drilling jumbo is optimistically decked out with the flags of Sedrun and Graubünden. (2006, Alptransit Gotthard Ltd)

In 2012 the Federal Council decides to shelve the Porta Alpina «for the time being». It would impair the passenger and freight transit capacities too much and so jeopardise the goals of the NRLA. The Porta Alpina would have connected Sedrun and the Surselva to the Gotthard Base Tunnel via a lift. The idea for the underground rail station goes back to the middle of the 20th century. It rapidly gains popularity, against the backdrop of Graubünden's disappointment at the rejection of its arguments for a rail link through the eastern Alps. The shell of a tunnel station had already been excavated in the mountain.

« The forward-looking Porta Alpina Sedrun project presents a unique opportunity for the people of the valley and the entire Oberalp-Gotthard region that must be pursued further. »

Government of the Canton of Graubünden, Dispatch to the Grand Council, p. 1,220, 01.11.2005
800 metres

depth of two Gotthard Base Tunnel access shafts near Sedrun in the Graubünden mountains.

100 seconds

estimated length of the journey by lift from Sedrun down to the tunnel station.

6 minutes

time that would have been added to passenger journeys through the Gotthard Base Tunnel by stopping at the station, including braking and acceleration phases.

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