The Gotthard Base Tunnel is the longest, deepest, tunnel in the world. It was created to revolutionize European freight transport by providing a high-speed rail link between northern and southern Europe, running directly under the Swiss Alps. After nearly two decades of construction work, the Gotthard base tunnel was finally completed in 2016.
Gotthard Base Tunnel is 57km or 35 miles long pushing the previous longest tunnel in the world, the Seikan rail tunnel in Japan (53.9km) to second place and the Channel Tunnel that links the United Kingdom and France down into third place.
Once opened, Swiss Federal President Johann Schneider-Ammann gave a speech from the southern end of the tunnel saying that it was a “giant step for Switzerland but equally for our neighbours and the rest of the continent.” The speech was also relayed on the other end of the tunnel by the Swiss federal transport minister, Doris Leuthard.
After the speeches were given by Ammann and Leuthard two trains filled with the hundreds of lucky guests who won tickets to ride set off down the tunnel, officially opening the new route. Many European leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande attended the opening days events.
Hollande gave a speech once the group emerged on the southern side of the tunnel comparing the Gotthard Base Tunnel to the Channel Tunnel and recalling the great Franco-British project saying “Nobody could have imagined that one day you would be able to travel from England to France in that way.”
“Since then we are more united than ever and I hope the British will remember that when the day comes,” he continued.
The Gotthard Base Tunnel Facts
- It takes less than 20 minutes to get through the tunnel.
- 50 Passenger trains travel through the tunnel every day.
- It has 308 Kilometers of track.
- 57 kilometers make up the length of the two parallel tubes.
- 4 Emergency stop stations.
