In Switzerland, the longest railway tunnel in the world has been fully commissioned

Erstfeld (Switzerland) - The longest and deepest railway tunnel in the world, built in Switzerland under the Alps, was today opened for full traffic. The Gotthard Base Tunnel, referred to by the French acronym GBT, is 57.1 kilometers long and is up to 2.3 kilometers below the surface at certain points.

The ceremonial inauguration of the construction, which significantly facilitates train connections between the south and north of Europe, took place on June 1. The tunnel was opened by the President of the Swiss Confederation Johann Schneider-Ammann in the presence of notable foreign guests. Among them were German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

The construction of the new twin-tube railway tunnel began in 1999 and its costs reached about 12 billion Swiss francs (approximately 302 billion Czech crowns). The Swiss decided on the realization of this ambitious project in several referendums.

In the future, the tunnel is expected to accommodate around 300 passenger and freight trains daily at speeds of up to 270 kilometers per hour. Environmentalists hope that the new railway connection will reduce the number of trucks that use the alpine roads every year by up to half.

Before the opening of the GBT, the longest railway tunnel in the world was Japan's Seikan, which opened in 1988 and is 53.8 kilometers long. The Eurotunnel, which connects France and Britain, is 50.4 kilometers long.