World’s longest tunnel opens beneath Swiss Alps

World Today

World's longest tunnel opens beneath Swiss Alps

The Gotthard Base Tunnel is now the world’s longest tunnel — connecting Switzerland, Italy and Germany beneath through the Swiss Alps.

It’s 57 kilometers (35 miles) long and runs two kilometers below the mountains.

CCTV America’s Nathan King has the story.

Trains will glide through here at 250 kph (155 mph), taking just 20 minutes to transit through one of the engineering marvels of the 21st century.

It cost $12 billion and took 17 years to build and involved moving a whopping 28 million tons of earth.

It’s also helping the environment. Transportation officials expect a million journeys by polluting trucks will be saved every year as freight moves on this rail line.

And it’s great for travelers, too. A trip between the Swiss capital and Milan in northern Italy will be an hour quicker- connecting northern and southern Europe like never before.

The world record might not be around for long. China is planning a tunnel between the northern port cities of Dalian and Yantai – the projected length 123 kilometers (76 miles).