Abandoned Train Station Site Considered for $550M Dark Matter Experiment

A long-abandoned underground train station project in Switzerland may be given new life as a site for a major scientific experiment.

The Porta Alpina project, which aimed to build an underground train station in the Gotthard Base Tunnel, was cancelled several years ago. However, the NEAT shaft in Sedrun, where the project was to be located, is now being considered as a potential site for a 500-million-franc quantum technology experiment.

The experiment, which aims to detect dark matter and answer open questions in fundamental physics, could become one of the largest-scale experiments ever conducted at CERN. According to a recently published study by CERN, the shaft has the lowest background radiation levels among seven sites surveyed, making it an ideal location for the atomic interferometer.

The interferometer, which will cost 500 million Swiss francs and measure one kilometer in size, is expected to provide direct evidence of dark matter. The project involves several universities, including those in Geneva and Oxford, as well as CERN and the University of Applied Sciences of Graubünden.