Which Country Is Home to the World's Longest Railway Tunnel?

The Gotthard Base Tunnel, located in Switzerland, holds the distinction of being the world's longest railway tunnel. It runs beneath the towering mountains of the Swiss Alps. Stretching 35.5 miles (57.1 kilometers), the tunnel is not only a remarkable feat of engineering but also the world's deepest railway tunnel, with construction costs reaching approximately 12 billion Swiss francs. The idea behind the construction of the Gotthard Base Tunnel was to improve rail connections between Zurich, Switzerland, and the country's southern regions, as well as Italy. The project was first formally proposed in 1947, when traffic planner Carl Eduard Gruner prepared its initial design. Later, in the 1960s, the Swiss government established a body to examine the project. However, due to an economic downturn and public opposition, construction was delayed for several decades.

Two referendums were held in Switzerland, in 1992 and 1998, to secure public approval for the project. On both occasions, voters supported its construction. Work finally began in 1999, and after approximately 17 years of continuous effort, regular train services through the tunnel officially commenced on December 11, 2016. The initial estimated construction cost was 6 billion Swiss francs, but by the time the project was completed, the total expenditure had risen to approximately 12 billion francs. During construction, millions of tons of excavated rock and debris were removed from the mountains, while the gigantic tunnel-boring machines used for excavation were each approximately as long as four football fields.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel lies beneath the mountains at a maximum depth of approximately 2,300 meters below the surface. It surpassed Japan's Seikan Tunnel, which is 53.9 kilometers long, to become the world's longest railway tunnel. Passenger trains travel through this modern railway route at speeds of 200 kilometers per hour or more, while approximately two trains pass through the tunnel every hour. The project has made rail travel between Switzerland and Italy faster and more convenient. It has also reduced the journey time between Zurich and the Italian city of Milan by approximately 30 minutes.