6: Gotthard base tunnel, state of works on July 14th 2004. Gotthard Tunnel Opens In June this year Switzerland celebrated the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel and inaugurated it solemnly. Entire armies used the passage and during winters hundreds of “shovellers” earned their income keeping the Gotthard Pass open. Before the opening of the first train tunnel through the Alps in 1882 – at the time an astonishing 15 kilometres long – traders from the Romans onwards had to trudge across the Alps via the Gotthard Pass. Background: The world's longest road tunnel will open on Friday (5 September) giving north European motorists their quickest and most direct route through the Alps to Italy. The December timetable change marked the start of regular commercial services through the Ceneri Base Tunnel at the southern end of Switzerland’s busy Gotthard corridor. Anyone with an unhealthy interest in tunnels will already know that the new Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) in Switzerland actually "opened" on June 1 this year, when the construction company handed over the completed tunnel to the Swiss railway system, ahead of schedule and in a lavish inauguration ceremony that included topless angels, milk floats and 600 actors, two of whom simulated sex while dressed as ibex. and The mammoth multi-billion-franc project to complete the 57-kilometre connection, bored beneath the Alps, is set to be operational on December 11th 2016, SBB officials said at a press conference at Erstfeld in the canton … The new tunnel, said Swiss president Simeon Bavier in 1882, was: "A triumph of art and science, a monument to work and diligence. Let’s say this much: it’s a lot more than just our trains arriving … Anyone with an unhealthy interest in tunnels will already know that the new Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) in Switzerland actually "opened" on June 1 this year, when the construction company handed over the completed tunnel to the Swiss railway system, ahead of schedule and in a lavish inauguration ceremony that included topless angels, milk floats and 600 actors, two of whom … According to the progress made in the different sections, the actual overall time schedule shows that the excavation works of the tunnels will be finished in March 2010 and the first train will run through the Gotthard Base Tunnel in April 2015. The tunnel rises from the northern portal at Göschenen (1,106 m (3,629 ft)) and the highest point (1,151 m (3,776 ft)) is reached after approximately 8 kilometres (5.0 mi). The world's longest and deepest rail tunnel has officially opened in Switzerland, after almost two decades of construction work. During the 17-year construction, 28 million tonnes of rock were excavated, four million cubic metres of concrete were poured in, nine of the 1800-strong workforce died in accidents and the final cost topped out at $15 billion. Todays moderns transit routes take you trough a 16.9 kilometers long road tunnel opened in 1980 or the 57 kilometers long Gotthard railway tunnel, opened in 1882. Get access to print and online content subscribe today, Urban transport news from Metro Report International, Switzerland: Ceneri Base Tunnel opening completes NEAT jigsaw, Interview: ‘We have to win back our customers’, Traction technology: Harnessing the potential of lithium powerpacks, Traction: Rail can lead the way with hydrogen deployment, Railway Gazette International Current Issue: January 2021, Metro Report International Current Issue: Autumn 2020, Malolos - Clark Railway Project and South Commuter Railway Project, Invitation for bids: South Commuter Railway Project, ​Prequalification Invitation - Contract Q081578 Disposal / Sales of Phase 2 LRVs, Monthly print and digital editions of Railway Gazette International magazine. GOTTHARD BASE TUNNEL OPEN FOR BUSINESS By Keith Fender 23rd March 2017. This site uses cookies. The Weird Gotthard Tunnel Opening Ceremony One Year Later Donate. 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