Swiss near breakthrough on world`s longest tunnel
Baku, October 15 (AZERTAC). Swiss engineers are set to smash through the last pieces of rock to complete the digging of the world`s longest transport tunnel.
The two ends of the 57km (35 mile) Gotthard rail tunnel will meet after 14 years of construction work.
The event is to be broadcast live on Swiss TV, and watched by transport ministers across Europe.
The tunnel is expected to open to trains in 2017, when it will slash journey times between Zurich and Milan.
The 9.8bn Swiss franc (£6.4bn; $10.3bn) project will take up to 300 trains each day underneath the Alps at speeds of 250km/h (155mph).
The length of the Gotthard tunnel will exceed the 53.8km Seikan rail tunnel linking the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, and the 50km Channel tunnel linking England and France.
Other news in this section
