Invisible networks: Ruswil, in the backbone of the Swiss gas system

This week, Time explores the “invisible networks”, forgotten by the general public because they are too distant or common on a daily basis and which, through a crisis, have become a glaring issue.

Ruswil, halfway between Italy and Germany, in central Switzerland. Amid the Lucerne fields stand chimneys, factories and an array of pipes rising from the ground in a vast shade of gray. It is here, in one of the most strategic locations in Switzerland, that the Transitgas compressor station is located. This company of fifty employees manages an important artery of the high-pressure natural gas network, which crosses the country from north to south.