Gotthard: achieving the impossible
The more I look around the more I realise the scale of this colossal worksite.
You could build a small, two-storey house in here. With a garden. Even though there is 2,500 metres of solid rock between me and ground level, I don’t feel claustrophobic.
Inch by inch, man has dug a hole into the bowels of the mountain and theoretically, could live in here.
It’s an underworld created by the tireless efforts of miners, working to achieve one of humanity’s main ambitions: to keep on striving to achieve the impossible.
These are not words of flattery, but pure admiration. This is not only the world’s longest tunnel, but the “two” longest tunnels since the structure includes an east and west tube to enable two-way rail traffic.
Instead of the official length of 57km, this makes it 114km of madness that is now becoming reality.
Luigi Jorio, in the tunnel at Sedrun, October 15, 2010
A rather cosy hole – at least for the big day.
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