The world's longest tunnel opens in Switzerland

While the Gotthard tunnel was entirely funded by non-EU member Switzerland, the bloc’s transport commissioner Violeta Bulc has hailed it as “a godsend” for the continent. Laurent Gilleron / EPA

ERSTFELD // The world’s longest train tunnel officially opened on Wednesday under the Swiss Alps, aiming to ease transit in the heart of Europe.

With political unity on the continent shaken by a refugees crisis and the threat of a British exit from the European Union, Swiss president Johan Schneider-Amman said the tunnel would “join the people and the economies” of Europe.

He spoke before the 57-kilometre Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) made its ceremonial first run with European leaders on board.

The passengers included German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Francois Hollande and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi.

With its official opening the GBT has surpassed Japan’s 53.9-kilometre Seikan as the world’s longest train tunnel. The 50.5-kilometre Channel Tunnel that links England and France has been bumped into third place.

While the Gotthard tunnel was entirely funded by non-EU member Switzerland, the bloc’s transport commissioner Violeta Bulc has hailed it as “a godsend” for the continent.

The passage runs from Erstfeld in the central Swiss canton of Uri, to Bodio in the country’s southern Ticino canton.

Travel through the Alpine region, by rail or by road, requires taking a zigzag and undulating route.

The GBT was designed to offer a better option for both private travellers and commercial freights.

When the full service opens in December, the tunnel will shave the train journey from the Swiss city of Zurich to Milan in northern Italy down to two hours and 40 minutes – roughly an hour less than it currently takes.

It should also make rail freight more efficient, partly by supporting heavier cargo, which should reduce the number of smoke-spewing lorries on the roads. This in turn will improve traffic and curb pollution.

The number of daily rail passengers in Switzerland is expected to increase from the current rate of 9,000 people to 15,000 by 2020, according to the Swiss federal railway service.

The rough design for a rail tunnel under the Gotthard Pass was first sketched by Swiss engineer Carl Eduard Gruner in 1947.

But bureaucratic delays, concerns over the cost and other hurdles pushed back the start of construction until 1999.

The work took 17 years at a cost of more than 12 billion Swiss francs (Dh44.6bn).

According to the Swiss rail service, it also took 43,800 hours of non-stop work by 125 labourers rotating in three shifts to lay the tunnel’s slab track.

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

The primary machine used to make the Gotthard tunnel was roughly 410-metres long and functioned like a mobile factory.

It cut through rock and threw the debris backwards while simultaneously placing the preformed segments of concrete that formed the shape of the tunnel.

A separate system grouted the pieces together.

* Agence France-Presse