Today at 14.00 (Swiss time) there has been the final breakthrough in the 57km tunnel under the Alps. This immense engineering feat will transform transport links between northern and southern Europe. The tunnel was originally due to open in 2017 but the efficient Swiss believe that progress has been so good that 2016 is feasible.

All heavy goods transport which crosses Switzerland will have to travel by rail on special HUPAC rail shuttles or similar. This will mean that the autoroutes/moterways of Switzerland will be largely devoid of heavy goods vehicles apart from internal Swiss transport.

Additionally the trains between Basel/Zurich and Milan will be far faster. Instead of the actual 3 hours 40 minutes the journey will take 2 1/2 hours or less.

This is the future of pan-European transport.

Let's hope it works. We've invested so much money and time into making our transport more efficient. Poor Urnerland has again suffered through this all by losing more land to transportation lines.

Thanks for the info.

The horrific incident under Mont Blanc is a clear indication that where possible certain transport should travel by rail rather than by road!

Pictures here:

http://www.20min.ch/ro/

Somebody will have to come up with a silly name for it.
The Gunnel? The Swizzle?
Pal, we are relying on you.

Fantastic feat of engineering, BTW

If Germany and Italy don't comply by updating their railroad lines so all runs efficiently, it could still be called The Flop.

schuler

That is the problem.

Italy especially does not appreciate that come 2016 or 2017 they have to have an integrated system or there will be caos. One of the issues - minor but still important - is the question of the station of Como/Chiasso. It is ridiculous that trains stop at Como and then at Chiasso. The obvious solution is a single station with the trains using the existing tunnel from Como Albate to Chiasso which is currently used exclusively by goods trains. It is because of this that there is no investment in the station of Como which is perhaps one of the most depressing stations in the whole of northern Italy.
The Swiss - rather than Italian politicians - will improve the rail connections to Como and beyond.

The tunnel cost the equivalent of 800 euros per Swiss citizen and the Swiss voted FOR it in a referendum. I can't see that happening in many other countries. That's an awful lot of Toblerone and cuckoo clocks they'll have to sell.

The mention of Gotthard brings back a memory from about 1966 when I was driving back to Germany from Italy. As I recall, we had spent pretty much all our money and didn't realize our car would have to be put on a train to get through the tunnel because the road was closed at this time of year, and that we'd need money for the fare.

No credit cards back then.

I decided I'd wait by the road until I saw a car with an American forces license plate, and I'd ask to borrow enough for the fare. The second car that came along contained someone I knew--fellow teachers from Heidelberg American High School.