Switzerland inaugurates the tunnel longest and deepest in the world.

[Wizard ;x]

 

Seventeen years ago a group of builders began the mega construction of a tunnel through the Swiss Alps. The project was delivered this Wednesday becoming the longest tunnel and deepest in the world.

The Gotthard Tunnel Base, which has 57 kilometers in length, was presented as "the construction of the century" in Switzerland, a country that created a high-speed train that connects the depths of the famous mountain to the north and the south of Europe.

With the famous punctuality Switzerland, this project of mega engineering was completed on time.

 

A shortcut through the Alps

The tunnel is at a depth of 2,300 meters, shorter in one hour travel time between Zurich, Switzerland, and Milan, Italy.

The trains will pass through the tunnel that passes between the cities of Erstfeld in the north and in the south in Bodio only 20 minutes, reaching speeds of over 250 kilometers per hour, according to the Travel System of Switzerland.

The project is expected to bring benefits to both the commercial travel as business and provide a direct route and economic framework for the transport of goods.

This exceeded the Seikan Tunnel tunnel in the north of Japan, which had been appointed as the longest in the world and relegated to a third place to the Channel Tunnel between Great Britain and France.

 

 

Grand Opening

The line, which will begin to operate fully in December, celebrated its grand opening this Wednesday with european dignitaries as the Chancellor of Austria Christian Kern, the chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, the President of France Francois Hollande and the prime minister of Italy Matthew Renzi, among others.

The inauguration will establish a main rail corridor across Europe from the dutch port of Rotterdam in the north to the Italian port of Genoa, in the Mediterranean. The project is expected to also bring significant environmental benefits because the load that before was transported by road will now be sent by train.

It is anticipated that the benefits of increased trade and efficiency in travel will help to defray the 12,000 million dollars that were invested in the bridge.

The Alpine route continues

The new tunnel, authorized by the Swiss public in a national referendum in 1992, does not pass through the original line of Gotthard.

That line, po[CENSORED]r among tourists with its panoramic views since winds through the cordillera across 205 bridges in construction, will continue to operate, according to information from the Swiss Travel System.

Some 2,600 workers involved in the construction of the tunnel, of which at least eight lost their lives in the process. The final two meters of rock were drilled in the middle of a holding six years ago.