Construction for the Gothard Base Tunnel, a railway tunnel through the famous Swiss Alps, will be finished by the end of next year. At 57 km, it will be the world’s longest tunnel and deepest too.
The project’s main objectives are to shift freight and heavy cargo traffic from roads to the rail system in order to reduce traffic accidents and congestion. In addition, the tunnel reduces the rail commute time from Zurich to Milan by about 1 hour 30 mins. The construction is characterised by small sections, which were started simultaneously for cost and time efficiency.
Apart from being Switzerland’s largest ever construction project, the Gothard Base Tunnel’s specialty is its flat route which was designed to protect the Alpine environment. The support structures of the tunnel, which are above ground, are proving to be quite challenging, as some of the cross inhabited areas, rivers and agricultural land make environmental considerations a prime imperative.
The world’s longest tunnel is a long envisioned dream turning into reality – the first plans were sketched by the engineer and traffic planner Carl Eduard Gruner of Basel in 1947. After several decades of discussions and amendments, the NRLA was accepted by the Swiss people through a referendum in 1992.
The Gothard and Ceneri Base Tunnels are two of the main channels of the New Rail Link through the Alps (NRLA).