World's longest tunnel breaks down Swiss Alpine barrier

SEDRUN, Switzerland (AFP) - – A giant drilling machine punched its way through a final section of Alpine rock on Friday to complete the world's longest tunnel, after 15 years of sometimes lethal construction work.
In a stage-managed breakthrough, attended by some 200 dignitaries, 30 kilometres (20 miles) inside the tunnel and broadcast live on Swiss television, engineers from both sides shook hands after the bore had pummeled through the final 1.5 metres (five feet) of rock.

"Here, in the heart of the Swiss Alps, one of the biggest environmental projects on the continent has become reality," said Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger.

Tunnel workers paid tribute to their colleagues who had died on the construction site with a minute's silence as the names of the eight victims were read out during an emotional ceremony for the breakthrough.
"Workers, thank you, thank you, thank you. We have not only built a tunnel, we have written history," said Luzi Gruber of the construction company Implenia.

The 57-kilometre (35.4-mile) high-speed rail link, which will open in 2017, will form the lynchpin of a new rail network between northern and southeastern Europe and help ease congestion and pollution in the Swiss Alps.
It is the third tunnel to be built through the snowbound St. Gotthard area but it is much the longest and three kilometres longer than a rail link between two Japanese islands, the current record holder at 53.8 kilometres.
"The myth of the Gotthard has been broken for a third time. Our forefathers struggled from the Middle Ages onwards to make this mountain passable," Peter Fueglistaler, director of the Federal Transport office, told journalists gathered for the final breakthrough.

Passengers will ultimately be able to speed from the Italian city of Milan to Zurich in less than three hours and further north into Germany, cutting the journey time by an hour.

Once completed, around 300 trains should be able to speed through the Gotthard's twin tubes every day, at up to 250 kilometres per hour (155 mph) for passenger trains.

The 9.8-billion Swiss franc (7.0-billion euro, 9.8-billion dollar) tunnel, which is 9.5 metres in diameter, is also the fruit of strong popular environmental concern about pollution in the Swiss Alps.

Switzerland nonetheless struggled to convince sceptical European neighbours to support the ambitious and costly transalpine rail plans. But Swiss voters helped force the issue in 1994 by supporting a ban on heavy trucks driving across the Alps -- including the expanding flow of transiting EU goods traffic.

 A nationwide poll published on Wednesday suggested that sentiment is undimmed, with two thirds supporting a ban on truck traffic through the Gotthard road tunnel and moving it on to rail.

But a senior Swiss official warned the full benefit of the rail tunnel can only be realised if Germany and Italy complete complementary infrastructure.

"For a noticeable amount of freight to be shifted from road to rail, our neighbouring countries Germany and Italy will have to fulfill their contractual obligation to extend access routes," said Peter Fueglistaler, director of the government's Federal Transport Office.

In recent years, Austria, France and Italy have set in motion two similar rail tunnel projects through the eastern and western Alps, which are both planned to exceed 50 kilometres in length in the 2020s.

Apart from the economic and environmental implications, the spotlight was on more than 2,000 tunnel workers, especially following the rescue of Chile's trapped miners.

The builders, who have blasted and bored through 13 million cubic metres (460 million cubic feet) of rock, were feted at a celebration just above the breakthrough point in the mist-bound village of Sedrun.

As the two tunnels became one, tunnelers unfurled a Swiss flag to a thunder of applause.
One of the first to make it through, Hubert Baer, told the crowd: "It's a wonderful feeling, it's an honour to have participated in the construction of the longest rail tunnel in the world."

Scene: Santa Barbara stands watch over world's longest tunnel

source: http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101016/tts-switzerland-transport-tunnel-rail-en-c1b2fc3.html

PAX MANIFESTO ON CARLOS CELDRAN

We, the officers and members of the Philippine Alliance of X-Seminarians (PAX), a nationwide umbrella organization representing various federations of Catholic ex seminarians and Catholic seminary alumni organizations in the Philippines, do hereby declare:

1. That freedom of expression as enshrined in the Philippine Constitution is a democratic right of every citizen of the Republic, inviolable when exercised within the ambits of existing laws;

2. That religious freedom, the right of every citizen of the Republic to freely practice one's religious beliefs is likewise guaranteed in the provisions of our Constitution;

3.That all places of worship, churches, mosques and temples shall be revered as sacrosanct, holy and sacred houses of prayer and therefore should not be defiled or disturbed by any authority or individual;

4. That any disruption or disturbance during the celebration of the Holy Mass, regardless wherever it is celebrated, is a direct attack to the central faith of the Catholic Church and in violation of the religious freedoms of all its faithful;

5. That no citizen is endowed with such right to disrupt religious rites and ceremonies of any faith or creed, within their religious confines or in public places, whenever and wherever these rights and ceremonies are not prohibited by law;

6.That the actions of Mr. Carlos Celdran to disrupt the celebration of the Holy Mass at the Manila Cathedral, is an abject abuse of his right to freedom of expression, an affront to universally accepted social norms and decorum, and, most gravely, a desecration of the most sacred sacrament of the Catholic Faith ;

7. That while his right to freedom of expression is enshrined in Section 4, Article III of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, his condemnable action also violates Section 5, Article V of the very same Constitution;

Therefore, in the strongest possible terms, we condemn the actions of Mr. Carlos Celdran for desecrating a place of worship, the Manila Cathedral, and for disrupting a religious worship thereat, the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist on September 30, 2010. Such actions are devoid of good manners and social civility, disrespectful to an ongoing religious service, illegal, malicious and evil acts directed to a Faith, in total disregard to the hierarchy and church leaders present, and in violation of the rights of everyone participating therein to freely exercise their religious beliefs and creed.

We further condemn his cohorts for utterly condoning and supporting such acts, in brazen violation of the Philippine Constitution and existing laws.

Finally, we demand that Mr. Carlos Celdran and his cohorts apologize for their acts and make amends for their evil deeds, and resolve that they refrain from any such transgressions in the future.

-Philippine Aliance of X-Seminarians (PAX)