The world`s longest tunnel has taken shape deep beneath the Swiss Alps as fifteen years of boring, drilling and carving through solid rock comes to a close. An environmental triumph as well as an unprecedented engineering feat, the 57-kilometer (35.4-mile) Gotthard Base rail tunnel will form the lynchpin of a network between northern and southeastern Europe that could shift truck freight onto rail and de-congest the Alps in central Switzerland when it opens in 2017. The Gotthard tunnel will exceed the 53.8-kilometre Seikan rail tunnel linking the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido and the world's longest road tunnel, the 24.5-kilometre Laerdal in Norway.
The world`s longest tunnel has taken shape deep beneath the Swiss Alps as fifteen years of boring, drilling and carving through solid rock comes to a close. An environmental triumph as well as an unprecedented engineering feat, the 57-kilometer (35.4-mile) Gotthard Base rail tunnel will form the lynchpin of a network between northern and southeastern Europe that could shift truck freight onto rail and de-congest the Alps in central Switzerland when it opens in 2017. The Swiss tunnel has reclaimed the record from Japan's 33.5-mile Seikan Tunnel as the world's longest — excluding aqueducts.(AP Photo)
Swiss miners celebrate after the drill machine 'Sissi' broke through the rock at the final section Faido-Sedrun, at the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel on October 15, 2010. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is seen as an important milestone in the creation of a high-speed transportation network connecting all corners of Europe. (AP Photo)
Workers hugged, cheered and set off fireworks as the huge drill broke through the last stretch of rock deep in the Swiss Alps.
There was delight at the end of the tunnel — the world's longest — when it was completed on October 15. The joy and pride felt throughout Switzerland over digging the Gotthard Base Tunnel reflected the one cause that unites the country's wealthy city dwellers with those living in traditional villages: Protecting the beauty of the mountains. (AP Photo)
First conceived in 1947 by engineer Eduard Gruner, the project will allow millions of tons of goods that are currently transported through the Alps on heavy trucks to be shifted onto the rails, particularly on the economically important link between the Dutch port of Rotterdam and Italy's Mediterranean port of Genoa. The tunnel also aims to reduce the damage that heavy trucks are inflicting on Switzerland's pristine Alpine landscape. (AP Photo)
Some 2,500 workers have spent nearly 20 years smashing through the rock beneath the towering Gotthard massif, including the 8,200-foot (2,500-meter) Piz Vatgira. (Photo Source: www.swissinfo.ch)
When the $10 billion tunnel will open for rail traffic in 2017, it will let passenger and cargo trains pass underneath the Alps at speeds of up to 155 miles an hour (250 kilometers an hour) on their way from Germany to Italy. (Photo source: www.swissinfo.ch)
Swiss engineers are hoping to complete the rail tunnel even sooner than planned — possibly by the end of 2016 — but the arrival of the first high-speed trains could be delayed by problems in Germany and Italy, where local opposition to new tracks and budget constraints have become an issue in recent months. (Photo source: www.swissinfo.ch)
The project has to overcome several problems particularly the Alps' varied geology. Switzerland struggled to convince sceptical European neighbours to support its ambitious and costly transalpine rail plans in the 1990s. But they gained added weight in a shock referendum result in 1994 when Swiss voters supported a green motion to stop heavy trucks crossing the Alps -- including the expanding flow of transiting EU goods traffic. (Photo: AP)
Swiss voters, who are paying over $1,300 each to fund the project, approved its construction in a series of referendums almost 20 years ago. Switzerland has said that only by upgrading its railway infrastructure can the country meet the rising demand for freight transportation and the increasing needs of customers. (Photo source: www.swissinfo.ch)
