Urbanisation is a global trend. The spread of
urbanisation increases the pressure for space on the surface, and useful space
is used uneconomically or for high-emission activities. The third dimension,
the underground, must be used more and with greater focus. Underground
industrial solutions with automatic goods and passenger transport systems,
high-security data centres, low-emission treatment plants, vibration-free
precision production facilities, greenhouses with a stable climate, etc.
The traget use of
the underground space requires, however, that the relevant technical and
economic parameters are evaluated carefully and coordinated and that the
necessary technologies for the development and use are existing.
The
Gotthard Base Tunnel opened in 2016 is the longest railway tunnel in the world.
The Swiss Center of Applied Underground Technologies (SCAUT), which was
initiated on the day the tunnel was inaugurated, is the first-ever competency
centre of its type globally and groups the know-how and the technology applied
at the Gotthard Base tunnel, yet also of further innovative underground
infrastructures, to make them available for various applications in the use of
the underground space.
The
SCAUT initiative is made up of several parts: