The Gotthard Tunnel (ELEVATOR WORLD, February 2006) was successfully connected ahead of schedule in a ceremony on October 15, 2010. At a total cost of EUR9.1 billion (US$12.45 billion), the project is part of a plan to create a high-speed rail network consisting of passenger and cargo trains that zip between Germany and Italy at 155 mph, enabling Europe to reduce the number of trucks that pass through the Alps each year by half. Approximately 2,500 people (eight of whom lost their lives in the work) labored on the project for more than 10 years.
Scattered with vertical-transportation projects such as 800-meter-long elevators that can travel at 12 mps, the 35.4-mile Gotthard Tunnel beneath the Alps will pave the way for high-velocity rail travel between northern and southeastern Europe. It is part of a network of Alpine transportation projects that include two further tunnels under the mountain range. When it is fully operational in 2016 or 2017, the tunnel will exceed the current world’s longest, the Seikan Tunnel, which connects the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido.
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