Gotthard Base Tunnel facts for kids

The Gotthard Base Tunnel (often called GBT) is a very long railway tunnel in Switzerland. It's the longest tunnel in the world! It stretches for about 57 kilometers (35 miles). This amazing tunnel has two separate tracks, one for trains going each way. It connects the towns of Erstfeld in the north and Bodio in the south, passing deep under the mountains near Sedrun.

Turnout at Faido multifunction station

Map of the Gotthard Base Tunnel

The tunnel helps connect the canton of Ticino with the rest of Switzerland. It also makes travel faster between northern and southern Europe. For example, a train trip from Basel or Zürich to Lugano and Milan is now about an hour quicker.

Building the World's Longest Tunnel

Building such a massive tunnel was a huge project! People in Switzerland voted on the idea in 1992. Most of them agreed it was a good plan.

Work began with preparations in 1996. The official construction started on November 4, 1999, in a place called Amsteg. It took many years to dig through the mountains.

The project was very expensive. It cost billions of Swiss francs to complete this incredible engineering feat.

Why Was This Huge Tunnel Built?

The main reason for building the Gotthard Base Tunnel was to make it easier to move things across the Alps. It especially helps with moving goods by train. This is much better than using lots of big trucks on the roads.

Moving goods by train helps in a few ways:

• It makes the roads safer, as there are fewer heavy trucks.
• It's better for the environment. Trains cause less pollution than many trucks.

The tunnel also helps people travel faster. It creates a quicker link between different parts of Switzerland and between countries in Europe.

Images for kids

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  Aerial view of the Uri Reuss Valley and the 3,073-metre-high (10,082 ft) Bristen peak from the north portal. The historic routes on the Gotthard (road and railway) follow the Reuss upwards, which flows west of the Bristen.

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  Relative location and size of Gotthard Tunnel (1882) and Gotthard Base Tunnel (2016), both shown in yellow. Open-air rail shown in red.

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  Gotthard Base Tunnel diagram, the new railway link through the Alps NRLA (green: → excavation direction).

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  Aerial view of the Erstfeld area (north portal) in 2009

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  Inauguration days, where the public was allowed to experience high-speed travel below the Alps for the first time, and to move quickly between the exhibitions held in Erstfeld and Bodio.

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  Sedrun multifunction station viewed from the control cab of a Gottardino train.

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  South portal: Intercity on the base line and regional train on the summit line

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  Integration of the portals into the landscape

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  The new 4-kilometre-long (2.5 mi) open-air section from Rynächt to the north portal

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  Start of the new 7-kilometre-long (4.3 mi) open-air section from Giustizia to the south portal

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  The Pollegio Control Centre (near the south portal) with one of the four used TBM cutter heads on display

See also

In Spanish: Túnel de base de San Gotardo para niños