World’s longest rail tunnel closer to completion

All the tracks are now laid in the Gotthard Base Tunnel in the heart of the Swiss Alps. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)

For the past three years, 125 shift workers have laboured around the clock to put in place 290 km (181 miles) of tracks.

The 57 km (35.4 mile) tunnel is the key element of the new flat rail link through the Alps. From December 2016, trains will run between Erstfeld in canton Uri and Bodio in canton Ticino.

Rising no higher than 550m above sea level, the tunnel will reduce travel time between Zurich and Milan by an hour, so the journey will take 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Longer freight trains can be used on the flat route, pulling up to twice today’s weight – 4,000 tonnes instead of 2,000 tonnes. They will be twice as fast.

Voters approved the concept and the financing of the tunnel in the 1990s. It is a cornerstone of the policy to move freight in particular from road to rail.

The total cost of the project is SFr9.74 billion ($10.1 billion).

The Gotthard Base Tunnel has now taken over the world record from the Japanese Seikan tunnel (53.85 km/33.65 miles).