Sunday, January 26, 2025 The Gotthard Base Tunnel, located in the Swiss Alps, stands as the longest and deepest railway tunnel in the world, extending 35.5 miles between the cantons of Uri and Ticino in Switzerland. This remarkable feat of engineering has revolutionized travel across the Alps, offering travelers a faster and more efficient route between Switzerland and Italy.
While tunnels are common in rail travel, the Gotthard Base Tunnel is in a league of its own, with its impressive size and speed. A Gateway to Faster Travel One of the primary purposes of the Gotthard Base Tunnel is to significantly reduce travel time for passengers. Before the tunnel’s completion, traveling from Zurich, Switzerland to Milan, Italy required a much longer journey.
The Gotthard Base Tunnel shortened this trip by an entire hour, cutting down the travel time to just 2.5 hours. This substantial reduction in travel time has made it an essential part of the transportation infrastructure, benefiting both locals and tourists alike who rely on fast and efficient connections between the two cities.
The tunnel’s design, conceived in the late 1940s as a dual-use tunnel for both cars and trains, was ultimately approved by Swiss voters in 1992. Construction began in November 1999, and after years of meticulous planning and work, the Gotthard Base Tunnel officially opened to the public on June 1, 2016. A Technological Marvel The Gotthard Base Tunnel is not just a feat of civil engineering but also a .