The mysterious disappearance in Belgium of 5000 tonnes of poisoned Lötschberg sleepers
It all starts with dead fish. But the environmental damage caused by the rehabilitation of the Lötschberg summit tunnel does not stop at the trout in Lac Bleu. These were in all likelihood killed by the toxic rubble stored at the Mitholz quarry, above a water table which led the polluted waters into the Blausee. The water samples analyzed by a Zurich laboratory indicated that the limit value for PAHs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, some of which are carcinogenic, was exceeded by… 424,000 times.
Or the renovation of this tunnel, made necessary by the saturation of the Lötschberg base tunnel, lower in the Kander valley, also involved replacing 28 km of rails – and sleepers.
Ban on the sale of sleepers
Construction company Marti was commissioned with the work for the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon (BLS) railway company. Like the rubble, the thousands of tons of sleepers were first stored in the Mitholz quarry. These bushings are highly toxic, as they have been impregnated with tar oils to protect them from decomposition. These oils are largely composed of PAHs, dangerous and difficult to degrade, which accumulate in living organisms. Moreover, in July 2000, the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (DETEC) strictly prohibited the sale of these sleepers to private individuals, who used them for their gardens or Game. “When the impregnated wood comes into direct and regular contact with the skin, the carcinogenic substances which remain in the wood can contaminate the human body”, writes the DETEC.
In June 2020, alerted by Stefan Linder, one of the owners of the devastated Lac Bleu fish farm, the Bernese cantonal office for water and waste prohibited the dumping of polluted railway cuttings in the quarry, as well as the sawing of passes through, as the toxic shavings could also cause serious pollution.
What, then, must Marti have done? Dispose of used bushings.
But the treatment of this toxic waste is very skilled. Between 200 and 300 francs per ton. That is more than a million Swiss francs in all, while the renovation of the Lötschberg summit tunnel is estimated at 105 million. A million. The kind of sum that drives creativity. How to circumvent the law? The law is very clear. Toxic railway crossings must be incinerated as special waste. Indicate. Except… Except, if they are reused for the construction of railways. Our colleagues from the Berner Zeitung had, thus, revealed the existence of a letter dated December 18, 2018 from Marti informing the Federal Office for the Environment (OFEV) that the crossings were going to be reused identically in a construction site in Belgium by the Belgian company “Mevogra”.
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