UNESCO World Heritage Trail – Bench No. 7: The Lötschberg Tunnel – A Connection that Shaped Lives and Landscape

Easier and faster was to go through them: since the late 19th century, the technical means have been available. With the construction of the railway tunnel from Kandersteg to Goppenstein, engineers and miners overcame the Lötschberg as an obstacle on the way south. The project was initiated by the French, who feared losing the north-south connection to the Gotthard Tunnel. For the village of Kandersteg, this brought enormous changes.

Construction

The Lötschberg tunnel was built between 1906 and 1913, bringing great changes to Kandersteg. The years to completion were marked by hardship and tragic accidents. One such disaster occurred beneath the Gasterntal: on 23 July 1908, a spring at kilometre 2.497 caused a collapse that killed 25 Italian workers. After thorough investigations, the project resumed in 1909 with a bypass loop around the Gasterntal. For several years, around 2,000 tunnel workers and 1,000 family members lived in the village of 500 inhabitants. For the local population, this was a formative experience. After the tunnel opened, the mountain region was suddenly connected to the international railway system – bringing encounters with new and broader groups of guests.