“After six months of testing, the new tunnel through the St Gotthard pass, a Gotthard Base Tunnel, will be opened for passenger traffic on December 11. It will be the longest railway tunnel in the world with a length of 57 km. The facility will allow to reduce the travel time between the north and the south of Switzerland to approximately 40 minutes. The journey itself through the pass with a maximum speed of 250 km/h will take no more than 17 minutes”, - the official message released by Swiss National office for tourism reads.
The length of the new Gotthard base tunnel constructed in the Alps at a depth of 2.3 km will amount to 57.1 km. The project, which has been implemented for 17 years, is estimated at $12.3 billion.