Rail companies offer land for construction of Einstein telescope
Train operator SNCB/NMBS and infrastructure manager Infrabel have offered to make a site in Wallonia available to support construction if the Einstein telescope is built in the Euregio area. A decision on the location of the underground facility, Europe's most advanced observatory for gravitational waves, is due to be made next year.
Construction of the observatory would involve excavating 4 million cubic metres of soil. The two rail companies have proposed making their 44-hectare site in Plombières available, to be used as a storage area and logistics centre for materials and excavated soil.
The railway line in the area has also recently been upgraded and has four freight tracks, each up to 750m long, to allow efficient delivery and collection of soil.
A task force is exploring opportunities for the border area of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany to host the telescope. The proposal by SNCB and Infrabel is not a formal agreement, but it facilitates further discussions in the next phase. No financial agreements have been made as yet.
“The more we can transport by rail and the better we can handle our soil and materials, the more sustainable the operation becomes,” said Hans Plets, chair of the Einstein Telescope task force.
“We are therefore particularly pleased that Infrabel and NMBS are formalising our exploratory discussions with this Letter of Support. This provides an excellent basis for continuing our discussions in the same open spirit and achieving a successful outcome.”
The telescope is set to be the first third-generation gravitational wave detector and would provide access to phenomena and processes that have been inaccessible to science until now. It would be constructed 250-300m underground in a triangular shape, with the three vertices connected by a 10km tube.
Twelve European countries will decide where the telescope will be built by the end of next year, and the facility is intended to be operational by 2035.
Related news
