$12.3bn 57-kilometre world’s longest railway tunnel opens in Switzerland

The first scheduled train to pass through the world’s longest railway tunnel arrived in the Swiss city of Lugano more than 30 minutes faster than usual on Sunday, thanks to a shortcut that took 12.2 billion Swiss francs ($12.3 billion) and 17 years to build.
Departing from Zurich, the train was the first to carry members of the public through the Swiss Alps since the Gotthard Base Tunnel was formally inaugurated more than half a year ago.
The official ceremony in June, attended by various European leaders, was followed by 5,000 safety tests before authorities could approve the tunnel for public transport.
“We have been training for a long time and are happy we can finally get started,” the head of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), Andreas Meyer, said.
The 57-kilometre tunnel was designed to boost environmentally friendly cargo traffic on rails across the Alps and to better connect industrial hubs in Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
It replaces Japan’s 53.9-kilometre Seikan Tunnel – between Japan’s Honshu and Hokkaido islands – as the world’s longest rail tunnel. It takes 17 minutes to pass through by train.