Gotthard - the longest tunnel in the world

The construction of the longest tunnel in the world has been completed. The 57-kilometer railway tunnel under the Alps, which now connects Zurich and Milan, took… 20 years to build. This investment was worth over 6.5 billion euros. Let's take a look inside the longest and deepest tunnel in the world.

12 PHOTOS

1. The Swiss authorities announced that the construction and installation of all technical elements of the longest tunnel in the world, the Gotthard tunnel, was completed on 24 August. It's hard to imagine how many building materials were used to build it. Tons, thousands of tons. The contractors were faced with the task of how and where it is profitable to buy sand concrete in bulk, hire people for construction, etc. (Photo: ARND WIEGMANN / REUTERS).

2. The tunnel will be open on June 2, 2016. Now from Zurich to Milan by train can be reached in just 2.5 hours, that is, an hour less than at present. This became possible due to the fact that at a depth of 2.5 kilometers under the Alps, it was possible to drill a tunnel almost in a straight line, so trains in it will be able to develop a sufficiently high speed. (Photo: ARND WIEGMANN / REUTERS).

3. In July this year, as part of a test on a 13-kilometer section of the tunnel between Bodio and Faido, the train made a test drive at a speed of 220 km / h. (Photo: ARND WIEGMANN / REUTERS).

4. Over the past two months, a subsidiary of the Swiss railway has been inspecting the entire infrastructure of the tunnel, including electrical systems, communications, monitoring, and other facilities. No violations were found. (Photo: ARND WIEGMANN / REUTERS).

5. The tunnel is part of the Alps Transit-Gotthard project, which includes the modernization of the railway line passing through the Alps from Erstfeld to Lugano. On this line, since 2009, another tunnel is being built, the 15-kilometer Ceneri-Basistunnel, which is scheduled to open in 2019. (Photo: ARND WIEGMANN / REUTERS).

6. The highest point of the 57-kilometer Gotthard tunnel is 550 meters above sea level. It consists of two separate "corridors" with a diameter of 9.14 meters running in parallel at a distance of 40 meters. (Photo: KARL MATHIS).

7. In the tunnel, trains will be able to travel at speeds up to 250 kilometers per hour. (Photo: ARND WIEGMANN / REUTERS).

8. The 57-kilometer Gotthard tunnel surpassed the previous record holder in length, the 54-kilometer tunnel in Japan's Seikan, and the 50-kilometer channel between England and France. (Photo: ARND WIEGMANN / REUTERS).

9. Swiss Gotthard is also the deepest railway tunnel built so far. Its deepest section is 2300 meters underground. (Photo: MARTIN RUETSCHI).

10. During the construction of the tunnel, more than 2 thousand workers and specialists worked, eight of them tragically died. (Photo: DEMOTIX).

11. Tunnel Gotthard, in which in the near future it will be possible to ride a train directly under the Alps. (Photo: CHRISTIAN HARTMANN).

12. Tunnel Gotthard. (Photo: JOHANNES SIMON / Getty Images).