Is The New Swiss Tunnel for the Military?

For the past 60 years, the Switzerland government has been planning, engineering, and digging out the longest tunnel in the world. The 35.4 mile tunnel took 14 years to actually build, and when opened, it will give transportation from the top of the continent, to the bottom.
www.telegraph.co.uk...




Back in 1947, this idea of the longest tunnel was thought up by the engineer Eduard Gruner.

During the Second World War (1939–1941 and 1943–1946) Gruner was in charge of several military construction works in his homeland. Between 1941 and 1943 he was in charge of railways and power plants construction in Norway.[1] From 1946 he was mainly involved in projects outside Europe. In 1947 he experienced the death of his father, Heinrich Gruner, who had established an engineering company of his own in 1862.[2] In 1948, Gruner became partner in his late father's company. As the responsible for the Public Works Department, Gruner directed the construction of power plants, railways and irrigation systems in India, Pakistan, Syria, Sudan and Uruguay.
In 1976 he was asked by a subcommittee of the United Nations General Assembly..

en.wikipedia.org...

This tunnel is described to help transport goods from the old fashion way of driving large trucks through the Alps. BUT, as many of us on ATS know, there could possibly be an alternative means of use.
I could not find anything else on the matter, but I will keep myself updated on this story. Its pretty cool either way.

I saw this on Rense earlier. He had the title for the story; The world's largest 'declared' tunnel!

Which I thought was very appropriate! Star and Flag

reply to post by monkeySEEmonkeyDO

I read about this the other day and found it quite interesting although I didn't and still don't think of it as a tunnel for the miltary. Besides the fact that the engineer was involved in military infrastructure, what other suggestive evidence is there for it to be used by the military? The project appears to be open to the public and from what I remember was said to cut down on pollution by trucking through the Alps. Sorry I don't have a link to the article but I saw it on my iPod, don't remember where it came from and a quick search doesn't show the article. I'm open to the suggestion of such an act but aren't such projects usually secretive? Maybe I'm missing something here but I'm not seeing evidence of your title besides a past military affiliation which doesn't speak much to me.

FoxNews Article on Gotthard Base Tunnel

SEDRUN, Switzerland -- Swiss engineers have smashed through the last stretch of rock to create the longest tunnel in the world. A gigantic drilling machine broke the remaining wall 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) below the imposing Piz Vatgira peak in the Gotthard massif several minutes ahead of schedule Friday afternoon. Miners, VIPs and journalists inside the tunnel cheered as Switzerland reclaimed the tunnel record from Japan's Seikan Tunnel.

The 35.4-mile (57-kilometer) Gotthard Base Tunnel is an important milestone in the creation of a high-speed rail network connecting all corners of Europe. It will allow millions of tons of goods currently transported through the Alps on heavy trucks to be shifted onto the rails.

Gotthard Base Tunnel - Wiki

AlpTransit News Release

Gotthard Base Tunnel - Discovery World

...european road traffic on this major route through the Alps, while simultaneously developing Europe’s high-speed rail network. The existing tunnel, much higher up, can only handle three-truck freight trains of up to 2,000 tons. The new tunnel will take 4,000 ton heavy freight trains – carrying entire trucks on board - effortlessly through the heart of the mountains. Passenger trains will be able to travel at speeds of up to 250kmph, resulting in a train journey time between Zurich and Milan of just two hours and 40 minutes – a third less than at present.

Edit to add - I have not seen anything remotely linking this tunnel to any military use. Although I would assume it is of strategic importance in any conflict that would be in that area as it would allow movement of heavy equipment, tanks etc more efficiently. Like I said thought I have not come across anything talking about military use.

The people of Switzerland actually held a referendum for funding of this project, so it was in the public eye from the get go.