Switzerland Has a New Attraction with the Opening of the Longest Train Tunnel in the World

Switzerland has a new attraction with the opening of the longest train tunnel in the world, linking Zurich and Lugano and saving 30 minutes of travel time.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel runs 57km through the Swiss Alps and takes 17 minutes to traverse.

Regarded as a masterpiece of modern, sustainable railway engineering, the project was 17 years in construction.

The Swiss-funded tunnel was largely made possible by technical advances in tunnel-boring machines, which replaced the costly and dangerous blast-and-drill method.

The Gotthard tunnel pushes Japan’s 53.9-kilometre Seikan tunnel into second place. Third longest is the 50.5-kilometre Channel tunnel connecting Britain and France.