High-speed trains will now be able to whisk passengers through the heart of the Alps in 17 minutes, after the world's longest and deepest railway tunnel opened on 1 June. At 35.5 miles long, the Gotthard Base Tunnel will speed passengers and cargo by rail under the mountain chain that divides Europe's north and south, in a journey which originally took days until the first Alpine rail tunnel opened in 1882.
Designed to last a century, the Gotthard Base Tunnel has spent 17 years under construction and is now an engineering marvel.
Miners wave with the flags of their home countries as they celebrate after a giant drill machine broke through the rock at the final section Sedrun-Faido, at the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base TunnelArnd Wiegmann/ Reuters
Described by federal transport office director Peter Fueglistaler as "a masterpiece of timing, cost and policy" the railway came in on schedule and on budget. The rail line travels in a series of loops and tunnels and the new flat route means even heavy trains will need only one locomotive rather than two or three.
The railway is part of a 23 billion Swiss franc (€20bn, £16bn, $23bn) infrastructure project and will see around 260 freight trains, along with 65 passenger trains traverse the two-tube tunnel each day once final testing has finished later this year. Engineers working on the project had to dig and blast through 73 kinds of rock, some hard as granite, some as soft as sugar. Nine workers died during the process.
A worker and a visitor stand at the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel at the Erstfeld-Amsteg sectionArnd Wiegmann/ ReutersA miner climbs on excavated rocks after a giant drill machine broke through at the final section Sedrun-Faido, at the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base TunnelArnd Wiegmann/ Reuters
Running along Europe's main rail line, the tunnel connects the ports of Rotterdam in the north to Genoa in the south. It will snake through the mountains as much as 2.3 km below daylight and through rock as hot as 46 degrees Celsius. The overall project includes the Loetschberg rail tunnel, which has already opened, the Ceret tunnel that is still under construction. Work is due to finish in 2020.
A statue of St. Barbara, protector of miners stands in the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel, the world's longest and deepest rail tunnel, during its official opening in Amsteg, SwitzerlandArnd Wiegmann/ Reuters(R-L) Father Martin Werlen, Chief of the Security Division of the Federal Office of Transport Pieter Zeilstra, Rabbi Marcel Yair Ebel, Imam Bekim Alimi and Reverend Simona Rauch take part to the benediction of the NEAT Gotthard Base TunnelArnd Wiegmann/ ReutersA general view shows the northern gates (L) of the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel near the town of Erstfeld, SwitzerlandArnd Wiegmann/ ReutersA train drives through the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel during a media visit near the town of SedrunArnd Wiegmann/ ReutersMiners spray water as the drill machine 'Sissi' breaks through the rock at the final section Faido-Sedrun, at the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base TunnelArnd Wiegmann/ ReutersMiners stand in front of drill machine 'Gaby' after breaking through at the section Erstfeld-Amsteg at the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base TunnelArnd Wiegmann/ ReutersA TV cameraman takes pictures of an emergency vent at a multifunction and emergency stop station of the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel during a media visit, near the town of SedruArnd Wiegmann/ ReutersMiners stand in front as the drill machine 'Gaby' breaks through the rock at the section Erstfeld-Amsteg at the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base TunnelArnd Wiegmann/ ReutersVisitors walk through the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel at the Erstfeld-Amsteg sectionArnd Wiegmann/ ReutersA statue of Saint Barbara, the patron saint of miners, stands in a shrine at the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel at the Erstfeld-Amsteg sectionArnd Wiegmann/ ReutersRed lights illuminate the construction site of the of the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel at the Erstfeld-Amsteg sectionArnd Wiegmann/ ReutersWorkers cycle next to the railway tracks at the NEAT Gotthard Base tunnel near AmstegRuben Sprich/ ReutersA miner holds a statue of St. Barbara, patron saint of miners, as he is welcomed by colleagues after the drill machine 'Gaby' made it through the section Erstfeld-Amsteg at the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base TunnelArnd Wiegmann/ Reuters
