The sun., 1910-07-10
Tunnel. and scenery.

+ Switzerland. With its picturesque and
interesting ~oensry, and it, position a.
mountain barrier betwcen the north
and south of Europe. attracts to its rail
road enterprises an interest scarcely
Commensurate With the -ize OF the work
Swiss railroads are a. much a means of
entertainment ~ Of transportation for
the multituds-, of summer visitors that
annually fll the country; they are very
important 10 the expedition Of much Of
the traffi, of the Continent. and they
furnish n highly interesting object les
son in engineering skill and resOurceiul-
ness The engineers 81 that country
are never satisfied with their achieve
ments. bu, are constantly undert aking
fresh enterprises. with the result that
the established routes ot travel across
the Alps frequently undergo important
, changes, while AZ the same time much
Of the new country Ia being opened up
/ t. the tourist that was before difficult
of aCoe-S
/ The latest work Of the engineer IN the
! IIOe'schherR Tunnel through the Ber-
ne-~ Ob"riand Alpa. with one end a,
Kandersteg and the other at Goppen-
stein II pierces one ~ the Leaks that
| lie south 81 Lake Thun, a part Of the
| Alps that il comparatively little known
10 the ordinary tourist but which has
always offered delightful journey by
diligence While it il not one OF the
long"zv tunnels Of Europe-it 10 only
eight and half miles long 1T presents
! a great many of the difficulties 10 build
! Ing that were experienced In the Sim
plon. The builders have encountered
warm springs and high rock tempera-
lures, but managed thorn with less trou-
bile than in the Simplon. since they were
In Considerably lc-s degrce The two
| bores Of the tunnel have already been
completed for nearly siy and n quarter
miles. and unless some Unforeseen cir
cIinstance arises th" tunnel may be
/ finished before the year is ended At
! the same tim" the approaches are being
rapidly advanced. Northward the line
j. tO FrI'igcn and Spiez, and southwa ard
To Brleg on the Simplon route. Tho
completion ~ this tunnel will give q
much shorter CIT across Switzerland To
Milan and will mOdifv very materially
central European train service
Tho recent Convention ~ Bsrns has
allowed FOR several improvements in the
Slmplon route which are 20 be carried
in;o shect The approach from the
French side will be quicksned by the
short cut ietween Fra-ner and Vallorbe
nn the line from Paris To Lausanne and
will do away with the awkward corner Mt
| Pnntariier. Another short cut will be
made from Monitors To Oranges on the
| Befor T. Berne line which II u believed
will attract traffic from DIeppe and Hol-
land. The convention also settled two
other questions NJ importance by allow
ing improvements to be made on the
Mont Cenis line. which II at present 80
Inadequate on tho Italian side, and took
measures that leave the way open TO
the tunnelling OF Mont Blanc.
A new route wholly within Switser-
land will have its chief importance In
tho tourist travel. This road is pro-
| iected through the cantons Valais,
Tn and Grissons and will join Distentls
and Brieg. Tho length Of tho line will
be exactly 100 kilOmeters. and will
reach its highest point under the FuTka
Pass, where a tunnel I .sSs meters long
will be constructed. There has never
heen connecting limo Of railroad be-
tween the east and the southeast, but
this line will complsts the link and make
n round tour" of Switzerland possible.
While the Swiss railroad builder un-