Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 19 Report STÉPHANE HERZOG As they exit the little station of Erstfeld, visitors step out onto the historic road of the Gotthard Pass. On the left, the SBB staff canteen, which used to be open 24 hours per day. On the right, the Frohsinn hotel. At one time this hotel recorded 12,000 overnight stays per year, but nowadays it is closed to travellers. There is nowhere to stay overnight in this little commune of Uri, which saw the growth of a village of labourers and railway workers during the construction of the first Gotthard Pass railway tunnel, opened in 1882. “Erstfeld steht und fällt mit den SBB” – the commune lives and falls with the SBB – says Pia Tresch-Walker, the mayor. “I had no doubt that the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel posed a risk to us. We have lost almost everything now. The number of jobs has fallen with the opening of the tunnel and Erstfeld has ended up a provincial town once again.” What’s more, the SBB’s hold on the commune’s land has restricted its real estate development, a situation that Erstfeld is trying to change by negotiating with the SBB with support from the canton. Before 2016, the first year of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, Erstfeld and its large train depot welcomed over 600 SBB employees. Today, the centre for maintenance and security for the tunnel employs 80 people and the station only around 50. The commune has witnessed the closure of several of its restaurants and shops. The former mayor of Erstfeld, Paul Jans, knows this story off by heart. In 1949, his father bought the Frohsinn hotel; Jans went on to manage it himself until 2014. The Gotthard Pass line saw 300 trains go by per day. “The opening of the first tunnel brought running water and street numbering,” recalls Jans. There was at least one SBB employee in every family. The engineers who came to live in Uri took up roles in the communal council or on the school boards, contributing their skills to the communities. “Today, the SBB doesn’t accept apprentices in Erstfeld,” laments Pia Tresch-Walker, whose husband is a train driver. An invisible tunnel At Erstfeld, the northern gate of the construction is blocked by barriers. Paul Jans takes us to visit it. From a distance, we can make out the sharp angles of the concrete opening designed by Ticino architect Flora Ruchat-Roncati. In fact, it is also possible to go to see the trains pass by from an access gallery located in Amsteg, which houses a special windowed area. But Covid-19 has put the brakes on this tourist activity. In all honesty, hopes of prosperity for Erstfeld were extinguished from the moment the construction sitewas opened for the base tunnel by Alp Transit, a subsidiary of the SBB. Engineers andworkers were grouped together in a space located outside the commune, further north. “It was like a sort of barracks, with 350 beds and a canteen. Theworkers, some of whomcame from Austria, worked flat out for four days, then returned to their homes to rest,” explains Paul Jans. All Erstfeld received from this presence was a share of the withholding taxes taken from the workers’ salaries. What’s more, the new railway line through the Alps does not even connect Erstfeld to Ticino. To get to Bellinzona, you first have to travel back towards Flüelen. But this doesn’t stopmayor Pia Tresch-Walker from using the connection approximately 15 times per year. On Sunday, the town’s inhabitants also head to Bellinzona to make themost of a low-cost buffet on offer there. The train takes them there in just 36 minutes. What changes beyond the tunnel? “Thementality is more relaxed, the food is good, and the wine, too,” says themayor, who also likes to take In the shadow of the largest railway tunnel in the world The Gotthard Base Tunnel links Erstfeld (UR) and Bodio (TI) and stretches for 57 kilometres. It is the longest railway tunnel in the world. Its inauguration, in 2016, turned the spotlight on the two municipalities at either end. But the anticipated economic boom never arrived. Report. Higher, further, faster, more beautiful? In search of the somewhat different Swiss records. Today: at the entrance to the world’s longest railway tunnel. Erstfeld: Pia Tresch- Walker, president of Erstfeld municipality (above left) believes Erstfeld has gone back to being a provincial village since the tunnel opened. Admittedly, it wasn’t exactly vibrant on the day of our visit. Bodio: Stefano Imelli (left), the president of Biasca, wants to see at least some fast trains stopping in the municipality. The working day of train driver Cédric Jacob (below) still centres on the tunnel: he transports the maintenance staff to the tunnel tube at night. Photos: Stéphane Herzog e tremes Swiss
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