Gotthard Base Tunnel: The Tunnel Through the Alps

The Gotthard Base Tunnel — the longest railway tunnel ever built: 57.1 kilometres of twin tunnel, with up to 2,300 metres of rock overhead. The deepest railway tunnel on Earth, straight through the Swiss Alps. From Erstfeld in the north to Bodio in the south, a nearly flat railway through the mountains. Seventeen years of digging (1999–2016), 28.2 million tonnes of rock removed — the equivalent of five Great Pyramids of Giza — and a final bill of 12.2 billion Swiss francs, voted for by the Swiss people themselves. Inside: two single-track tubes 40 metres apart, cross passages every 325 metres, and vast multifunctional stations carved from the rock at Faido and Sedrun. Passenger trains run at up to 250 km/h, freight at up to 120 km/h — under twenty minutes through the Alps, with up to 260 freight and 65 passenger trains a day. Opened 1 June 2016, in regular service from 11 December 2016. Zurich to Milan: about forty minutes faster — and year after year, more freight moves from road to rail, exactly as the Alpine Initiative promised. CHAPTERS 0:00 Beneath the highest mountains in Europe 0:38 The wall across Europe 1:31 The vision: a flat railway through the Alps 2:28 Seventeen years of digging 3:28 Two tubes, one artery 4:15 12.2 billion francs — and a party in the mountain 5:10 Why the Swiss dug it 5:52 The blueprint 🔔 Subscribe to The Impossible Blueprint for a new engineering giant every week. ⚠️ AI-generated content — all visuals are AI reconstructions, labeled AI in the video (altered-content disclosure enabled). #megaprojects #engineering #gotthard #tunnel #documentary #impossibleblueprint