FEATURE - Tunnel vision: Swiss can't wait to party

Miners watch as the ''gaby'' drill breaks through the rock at the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel in this June 16, 2009 file photo.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Face covered with dust, a tired miner scrambles through a tiny gap linking two parts of what will be the world's longest rail tunnel, clutching a gold coloured statuette of saint Barbara.

He is greeted by a hard-hat wearing crowd of 600 or so -- colleagues, politicians and journalists -- gathered to watch the rubble crumble in a Swiss rail tunnel. The event was broadcast live on television earlier this week.

Even though there is still one section of the tunnel to be dug through -- and that is not scheduled until early 2011 -- the media attention illustrates a particularly Swiss passion.

"I've been at a lot of openings but that one really hit me in the stomach and that is a great victory for the biggest tunnel," said a beaming Moritz Leuenberger, minister for environment, traffic, energy and communication.

"Here is the first world wonder of Switzerland, and the longest wonder of the world," said Leuenberger, congratulating workers including the statue-wielding miner.

Barbara, the saint depicted by the statuette, is known to the Swiss as patron saint of construction workers and miners.

Tunnels and the Swiss really do go deep. Some suggest the fascination comes from an existence surrounded by mountains. Many Swiss companies compete on the global tunnel market. But there are also boasting rights to dig for.

The focus of this week's attention, the Gotthard is a near 18 billion Swiss franc ($16.6 billion) project to reclaim Swiss ownership of the world's longest transport tunnel, at almost 60 km (40 miles). It's a crown Japan grabbed in 1988 with the Seikan Tunnel in the Tsugaru Strait, measuring 54 km (33 miles).

For the Swiss, a tunnel can even be a target for the social climber.

About 50,000 people turned up for a party to celebrate 125 years of the Gotthard railway in 2007. Thousands more have flocked to open days at various work stations along the route, which links Zurich with Milan.

"It could be because Switzerland is a little island in the middle of the European Union that we like to feel like we can connect to out neighbours a little bit," said Swen Klahr, spokesman of the Swiss Tunnelling Society (STS).

More than 2,500 km (1,550 miles) of tunnels criss-cross Switzerland, an Alpine hub for international transit between two of Europe's most dynamic economic regions, northern Italy and southern Germany.

According to its Federal Office of Transport, Switzerland's share of rail freight traffic is the highest in western Europe, with almost all its freight passing a number of tunnels.

Every year, the Swiss Tunnel Congress (STC), hosted by the STS, attracts hundreds of experts to discuss construction techniques, risk reduction and new tunnelling technology.

RECLAIMING TOP SPOT

Oliver Vion -- a 47-year old Frenchman who heads the Swiss-based International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) -- acknowledges a desire that Swiss prowess in hewing passage through the bellies of mountains not be upstaged by such fripperies as fine timepieces, chocolate or cheese.

"There are other tunnelling nations, like Japan and Norway, but the sheer length of Swiss tunnels is exceptional," he said.

In recent years the STC event has become increasingly exclusive, with non-members paying a 530 Swiss franc registration fee on top of 250 francs for each construction site excursion during the three days.

"For me, the STC is always a good opportunity to meet friends from Switzerland and abroad and join them at the exhibition or at the dinner," said STS president Felix Amberg.

The four-course dinner, giving participants the chance to socialise with the elite of the tunnelling world, slaps another 100 francs on the conference bill.

Held in an 19th-century banqueting hall of the five-star hotel Schweizerhof on Lake Lucerne, this convention is not the only opulent celebration of Swiss tunnelling enthusiasm.

In May, a carnival-like event costing more than 5 million Swiss francs ($4.42 million) marked the inauguration of the Uetliberg tunnel just west of Zurich.

Despite being criticised as an extravagant waste of money, the party dubbed the "West Fest" lured 200,000 visitors underground to food stalls, acrobats, parachutists and a marathon run looping through the 4.4 km (2.8 miles) tunnel.

Formula One cars raced along the newly paved road, and the tunnel hosted clubbing nights and pop concerts until the early hours of the morning.

"The tunnel, which cost approximately 4 billion Swiss francs to complete, is one of the biggest constructions of the century and therefore deserves a celebration of this magnitude," said Zurich engineering department's Felix Muff.

LEADING TUNNELLERS

There is cash benefit: "The economic importance of Swiss tunnels for international transit is indisputable," said Thomas Rohrbach from Leuenberger's department.

Tunnelling technology for hydropower has been a factor driving Swiss expertise. With no commercial hydrocarbon production, hydro-electricity accounts for about 60 percent of Switzerland's power.

Major Swiss tunnel construction groups like Implenia, Marti and Infra Tunnel are regularly commissioned for construction internationally: "Despite a more difficult operating environment ... orders have continued to increase," Implenia spokesman Claude Vollenweider told Reuters.

In the United States, technology developed by St. Gallen-based Leica Geosystems has been instrumental in the construction of the Central Artery tunnel, known as the "Big Dig", through Boston. Swiss engineering group ABB created technology for Britain's Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2002.

The Swiss are also studying a possible 240-km (149 mile) long fully automated supply tunnel to connect eastern and western Switzerland. The "Swiss Cargo Tube" would transport goods up to 60 meters below the ground, 24 hours a day.

"At the moment the Cargo Tube is a vision, but the chances of it becoming reality look positive," said Guido Guetter, who leads the research group. "It would be reliable, fast, environmental, flexible and economic."

At 149 miles, it would also be very, very long.