page_title: Gotthard Tunnel
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Gotthard Tunnel / Construction
caption_attribution_description: Bauarbeiter in Airolo um 1880. upload by Adrian Michael. Italiano: Lavoratori del Traforo del San Gottardo ad Airolo nel 1880.
context_page_description: The Gotthard Tunnel is an approximately 15-kilometre-long railway tunnel and forms the summit of the Gotthard Railway in Switzerland. It connects Göschenen with Airolo and was the first tunnel through the Saint-Gotthard Massif in order to bypass the St Gotthard Pass. It is built as one double-track, standard gauge tunnel. When opened in 1882, the Gotthard Tunnel was the longest tunnel in the world.
  The tunnel rises from the northern portal at Göschenen and the highest point is reached after approximately 8 kilometres. After two more kilometers, the border between the cantons of Uri and Ticino is passed; after another 5 kilometres, the tunnel ends at the southern portal near to Airolo. The trip takes about seven to eight minutes by train. Services are operated by the Swiss Federal Railways.
context_section_description: The tunnel was built from 1871 to 1881 and marked the first large-scale use of dynamite which had been patented in 1867. Construction was supervised by the Swiss engineer Louis Favre, who suffered a fatal heart attack inside the tunnel in 1879. Construction was difficult due to financial, technical and geological issues, the latter of which led to the death of around 200 workers (the exact number is not known) mainly due to water inrushes; many were also killed by the compressed air-driven trains carrying excavated material out of the tunnel. There were also serious health issues caused by an epidemic of hookworm infection (Ancylostoma duodenale). Medical investigations led to "major advances in parasitology, by way of research into the aetiology, epidemiology and treatment of ancylostomiasis". A strike of the workers in 1875 was crushed by the Swiss Army, killing four and wounding 13.
  A memorial for the dead workers was erected in 1932 near the station building at Airolo. The memorial contains a relief by Vincenzo Vela from 1882/1883, titled "Vittime del lavoro" (Victims of labour).
caption: Workers in Airolo (1880)
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