How Switzerland Built the 57 KM Gotthard Tunnel Through the Alps

How do you build a 57-kilometer railway tunnel beneath the Alps? The Gotthard Base Tunnel is one of the most extraordinary underground engineering projects ever completed. Stretching between Erstfeld and Bodio in Switzerland, the tunnel passes deep beneath the Alps, with rock cover reaching around 2,300 meters. This documentary-style reconstruction follows the construction process from the earliest geological investigations and access works to massive tunnel excavation, TBM operations, deep underground drill-and-blast work, rock support, concrete lining, cross-passages, technical systems, railway installation, breakthrough, testing, and finally the opening of the completed tunnel in 2016. Inside the project, engineers had to coordinate multiple construction sections simultaneously, excavate through dramatically different geological conditions, remove enormous quantities of rock, and maintain extraordinary surveying accuracy as separate tunnel drives advanced toward one another. The result is a 57.1 km railway connection beneath the Alps — built through nearly two decades of engineering, excavation, logistics and precision. In this video: Geological investigation beneath the Alps Construction of access tunnels and deep Sedrun shafts TBM excavation and conventional drill-and-blast Rock excavation, muck removal and primary support Construction of two parallel tunnel tubes Cross-passages and permanent civil systems The final underground breakthrough Railway track and electrification installation Testing and commissioning The completed Gotthard Base Tunnel MegaBuilt — Engineering the Impossible. #GotthardBaseTunnel #Switzerland #TunnelConstruction #MegaProjects #CivilEngineering #TBM #Alps #Infrastructure #Engineering