The Lopper II Rail Tunnel is a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

in the

canton of Nidwalden Nidwalden, also Nidwald (german: Kanton Nidwalden, ; rm, Chantun Sutsilvania; french: Canton de Nidwald; it, Canton Nidvaldo) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven municipalities and the seat of the ...

in central Switzerland. It forms part of the

Zentralbahn The Zentralbahn is a Swiss railway company that owns and operates two connecting railway lines in Central Switzerland and the Bernese Oberland. It was created on January 1, 2005, with the acquisition of the independently owned Luzern–Stans� ...

Luzern–Stans–Engelberg line, which links

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label= Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital o ...

with

Engelberg , neighboring_municipalities = Attinghausen (UR), Gadmen (BE), Innertkirchen (BE), Isenthal (UR), Wassen (UR), Wolfenschiessen (NW) , twintowns= Engelberg (lit.: ''mountain of angel(s)'') is a village resort and a municipality in the canton ...

, between Hergiswil station and Stansstad station. It is in length, and carries

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...

() track electrified at 11 k V AC 16 2/3 Hz using

overhead catenary An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipment ...

. The tunnel runs under the Lopper, a shoulder of

Mount Pilatus Pilatus, also often referred to as Mount Pilatus, is a mountain massif overlooking Lucerne in Central Switzerland. It is composed of several peaks, of which the highest () is named ''Tomlishorn''. Geography and transport The whole mountain ...

which extends into

Lake Lucerne __NOTOC__ Lake Lucerne (german: Vierwaldstättersee, literally "Lake of the four forested settlements" (in English usually translated as ''forest cantons''), french: lac des Quatre-Cantons, it, lago dei Quattro Cantoni) is a lake in central ...

, and immediately on leaving the tunnel the line crosses a bridge over the Alpnachersee arm of Lake Lucerne before entering Stansstad station. The Lopper II Tunnel is paralleled by the Kirchenwald Tunnel carrying the

A2 motorway This is a list of roads designated A2. Roads entries are sorted alphabetically by country. * A2 motorway (Albania), a road connecting Vlore with Fier * A002 road (Argentina), a road connecting Avenida General Paz and Ministro Pistarini Internat ...

. The nearby Lopper Tunnel I is a rail tunnel on the Zentralbahn Brünig line, the two rail lines joining at Hergiswil station.

References

Transport in Nidwalden Transport in Obwalden Railway tunnels in Switzerland {{Switzerland-struct-stub