Furka Summit Tunnel

Geschichte

The Furka Summit Tunnel is a long railway tunnel in southern Switzerland. It lies at an altitude of. The summit tunnel was completed in 1925, and first opened on 3 July 1926. It links the Furka railway station, in Uri, with the Muttbach-Belvédère halting point, in Valais.Until 1982, when the summit tunnel was replaced by the Furka Base Tunnel, the railway line passing through the summit tunnel was part of the Furka Oberalp Bahn . However, that line, which, along with the summit tunnel, was closed in 1981 and reopened in 2000, is now part of the Furka Cogwheel Steam Railway, a heritage railway operating in summer only.Furka Oberalp Bahn (FO) operationsBetween 1926 and 1981, the FO allocated three schedule periods to the line passing through the summit tunnel. The summer schedule corresponded with the then European summer timetable. The other seasons, covered by the then European winter timetable, were divided by the FO into autumn and winter periods, because traffic over the Furka Pass could be operated only until mid October.As soon as snow started falling, the FO had to be ready to place individual items of rolling stock on either side of the Furka, according to demand. Then, during the years commencing with electrification of the line in 1942, the electrical contact wire had to be dismantled over a nearly long section of line, and the line made "avalanche ready". Everything more than above ground level had to be removed, necessitating a huge annual expenditure.