New Kaiser Wilhelm Tunnel opened in April

The Deutsche Bahn opened the new single-track Kaiser Wilhelm Tunnel on the Moselle route near Cochem on April 7, 2014. Work on the new 4242 m long tunnel started four years ago. It was produced by a TBM (April 10, 2010 to Nov. 7, 2011) involving a single shell with segments and linked to the existing tunnel by means of eight accessible passages. Since the new tunnel began operating the existing two-track Kaiser Wilhelm Tunnel dating back to 1877, which is more than 4.2 km long, has been renovated and modified for use with a single track. Train traffic is destined to run in two separate tunnels each with a single track as from 2016. Altogether the Deutsche Bahn invested some 210 million euros with about 135 million euros accounted for by the new Kaiser Wilhelm Tunnel. G.B.