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Gotthard Second Tube: Extensive Works with a Focus on Sustainability
Gotthard Second Tube: Extensive Works with a Focus on Sustainability

Gotthard Second Tube: Extensive Works with a Focus on Sustainability

Marti’s Ticino story con­tin­ues with the con­struc­tion of the second Gotthard road tunnel. This fol­lows the buil­ding of the Ritom inclined shaft, designed to increase the pro­duc­tion capa­city of the eponym­ous hydro­elec­tric power plant. This second tun­nel, sched­uled to open to traffic in 2030, will allow traffic flow to be main­tained during the neces­sary refur­bish­ment of the first tube, which has been open to traffic since 1980.

Conveyance technologyEnvironmental engineeringPlants and MachinesSustainabilityTransport and Disposal logisticsTunnel construction

The work on both the north and south sites is going as planned. This includes the suc­cess­ful accep­tance of the new tun­nel bor­ing machine. This took place recently at the man­u­fac­tu­rer's premises.

The tunnel boring machine is on its way to Airolo

The tunnel boring machine destined for the main lot (341) assigned to the com­pan­ies Marti Tunnel, Mancini & Marti, Ennio Ferrari organised as a con­sor­tium, is on its way to the Airolo site. The logis­tics neces­sary for moving the 128 m of the tunnel boring machine in several special con­voys needed very careful plan­ning and coor­di­na­tion. The immens­ity of the challenge can be ima­gined just by looking at the dia­meter of the cutting head (12.36 m).

The southern portal con­sol­idated

On site the south­ern portal is ready. The special piles installed by Marti Bern “spe­cial­ized con­struc­tions” have con­sol­id­ated the entrance to the main tunnel. Cur­rently, the one hun­dred metres of the launch tunnel have already been dug and con­so­lid­ated.

The tunnel boring machine, once assembled, will tackle the 7.8 km that separate it from the break­through point planned for 2027. Its average daily speed is estim­ated at 20 m. The project faces a spe­cial chal­lenge namely the geo­lo­gical dis­turb­ance zone called "de Guspis". Located approx­im­ately 4.9 km from the south­ern portal and covering 340 m, its rock is par­tic­u­larly friable. This zone, which abuts the access tunnel (pre­par­at­ory lot 343), will be crossed and secured with the main lot 341. In relation to this, see our story dated February 15, 2023.

“The Second Gotthard Road Tunnel project impressively showcases the strength of the Marti Group – following the principle ‘everything from a single source’.”

Sergio Massignani,
Construction Site Manager Marti Tunnel AG

“The Second Gotthard Road Tunnel project impress­ively show­cases the strength of the Marti Group – following the principle ’every­thing from a single source’.

Not only are all con­struc­tion ser­vices, such as pre-­cut, special found­a­tion engin­eer­ing, build­ing con­struc­tion, road con­struc­tion, tunnel con­struc­tion and water­proofing carried out in-house.

But also the numer­ous required facil­it­ies and com­pon­ents, such as con­veyor belts, train loading and unloading facil­it­ies, gravel plant, con­crete pro­duc­tion, pre­fab­ri­ca­tion of seg­ment and utility tunnel ele­­ments, waste­water treat­ment, advance portal in disturbed zone, utility tunnel erector crane with over­pass bridge and various tunnel form­work, are also all sup­plied, installed and operated in-house.”

Sergio Massignani, Construction Site Manager Marti Tunnel AG

Lot 111: Under the Sign of Sustain­ability

Visible from the A2 exit, the southern con­struc­tion site is growing in size.
Assigned by FEDRO to the “Consorzio Sasso Gottardo” con­sort­ium, com­prising the com­pan­ies Marti Technik, Mancini & Marti, Simatec, Otto Scerri, and Arnold, the Lot 111 “Materials Management” has been set up along the Airolo-­­Stalvedro axis.

In order to supply the northern work site (Göschenen) as well as the southern site (Airolo), a com­plex network of con­veyor belts (with a cumu­lat­ive length of 12 km) has been set up. This means that it will be possible to avoid using trucks to trans­port the adjuvants needed to build the new tube. In fact, in order to maintain the strong pace and avoid unne­ces­sary trans­port, the con­crete for the under­pin­ning and the tunnel lining, as well as the pre­fab­ric­a­tion of seg­ments and con­duits is pro­duced on site. To this end a large hangar has been built next to the south­ern entrance and will be taken down when the work is finished.

Renaturation of the valley and the revital­isa­tion of Lake Uri

This industrial / technical land­scape will disap­pear follow­ing the open­ing of the second tube. As of 2030, the inhab­it­ants of the Levantine Valley and especially those living in Airolo will find life much calmer thanks to the covered gallery over the tunnel exit. The Albinengo viaduct will dis­ap­pear and there will be an addi­tional 160 00 m² of green space.
This renat­ura­tion has already begun as part of the rock extracted has already been poured into the Canton of Uri’s section of Lake Lucerne to improve living con­ditions for both fish and plants. This initiative has also posi­tively impacted water quality which is essential for life.

A further advantage: the very high voltage line that currently runs through the Saint-Gothard massif as an overhead line will be buried next to the conduits needed for the tunnel. More than 70 high voltage pylons and 23 km of overhead lines will be removed. Other beneficial measures are planned for the region.

Participants