What is the length of the Swiss Gotthard Tunnel?

In 2016, Switzerland wrote the history of Swiss technology with the opening of the new Gotthard Base Tunnel. At 57 kilometers long, the new Gotthard Tunnel is the longest railway tunnel in the world.

It is part of the new Trans-Alpine railway (NRLA), with which Switzerland intends to divert more freight traffic to rail.

For many centuries, travelers between southern and central Europe had no choice but to cross the Alps through the mountains. This was done on foot, with pack animals or in a sleigh. The only other option was the long voyage from the North Sea across the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.

This changed in the mid-nineteenth century with the expansion of railways in Europe. The idea of ​​​​constructing a railway tunnel through the Alps arose early.

In 1863 the decision was made to build a tunnel through the Gotthard massif because it was the shortest route. Construction work started in 1872 of Airolo TI in the south and Göschenen UR in the north at the same time, in 1880 the breakthrough occurred. Then this Swiss technology attracted more and more tourists.

The Gotthard Tunnel I, 15 kilometers long, was the longest tunnel in the world at that time. It revolutionized long-distance transportation in Europe. Just a few years after it opened, 32 trains were passing through the tunnel each day, and in 1960 the number of trains was 197.

The Gotthard Road Tunnel was not opened to traffic until 1980, after ten years of construction. At 16.9 kilometers long, it is the longest road tunnel in the Alps and the fourth longest road tunnel in the world. This eliminated the loading of cars onto special trains to cross the Gotthard Tunnel.

Today it is one of the busiest roads in the Alps and is the most important north-south connection for Switzerland. It is used by about five million cars and 900,000 trucks each year.

For years, there has been a dispute in Switzerland over the construction of a second tube, which will be put into operation in 2029. Then the original tube can be rehabilitated.

As the Federal Road Office (ASTRA) reports on the Swiss technology: “After the renovation of the existing tunnel, traffic through the Gotthard can be directed in one-way traffic with an emergency bypass.”

In 1994, the Federal People’s Initiative “To protect the Alpine region from transit traffic” was launched and accepted. It was intended to protect particularly affected cantons from heavy goods traffic and to force transit traffic to switch to rail.

The result was the construction of a new 57-kilometer tunnel through the Gotthard massif. It was intended to relieve the aging Gotthard Tunnel.

In addition, Swiss technology now enables completely different construction methods. This in turn makes it possible to run much heavier and longer freight trains at higher speeds.

For comparison: The ancient Gotthard Road is 30 kilometers long and reaches an altitude of 1151 metres. Here, two locomotives can pull freight trains with a maximum weight of 1,400 tons. The new Gotthard track is only 549 meters high and can run trains with a gross weight of 4,000 tons.

But it’s not just freight traffic that benefits from the new Gotthard core tunnel: for passengers, the train journey between Zurich and Lugano TI has been reduced by 45 minutes to less than two hours.