Posted Fri Nov 07 15:31:00 UTC 2008

By end of October 2008 nearly 80% of the longest railway tunnel in the world – the 57 km Gotthard Base Tunnel – had been excavated. The total of tunnels, galleries and passages of the Gotthard Base Tunnel will amount about 153 kilometers. The estimated costs of the project will be nearly 12 billion Swiss francs. Operational at the end of 2016, the trains of the future will cross the tunnel at a speed of 250 km/h, and bring Zurich closer to Ticino – this will be just a one-hour trip. Significant impacts on the standing of the Italian part of Switzerland – in terms of economy, tourism and culture – are obvious. With the tunnel finished, Ticino will be even more a alternative to life in. It features a great Mediterranean lifestyle around one of the lakes in a sunlight bathed and palm tree loaded surrounding.

Source: For further information: www.alptransit.ch