The tunnel extends as far down as some of the deepest mines in the world.

09:40, 04 May 2026Updated 09:43, 04 May 2026

The northern entrance to the Gotthard railway tunnel is seen in Erstfeld, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010. When completed, the tunnel will be the world's longest underground rail link, beating the 53.9-kilometer Seikan Tunnel in Japan. Photographer: Adrian Moser/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Construction on the Gotthard rail tunnel in Switzerland(Image: Bloomberg, Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Few obstacles prove as formidable as Europe’s tallest and most expansive mountain range. Stretching 1,200km in a vast crescent formation, the Alps span eight nations from France to Austria.

Throughout history, crossing the Alps meant dangerous expeditions by foot or mule. For as long as civilisation has existed in Europe, traversing this mountain range has been essential for commerce, travel and military campaigns.

Roman forces waged battles to control Alpine passages. Historic figures, including Hannibal — famously accompanied by elephants — and subsequently Napoleon, marched their troops across these peaks to secure advantages in war.

They would have coveted something like the Gotthard Base Tunnel, a passage linking northern and southern Europe. The £11.5bn tunnel opened in 2016 and holds the title as the longest and deepest tunnel ever constructed.

An Italian train makes its way at the north entrance of the new Gotthard Base Tunnel the world's longest train tunnel on the eve of its opening ceremony on May 31, 2016 in Erstfeld.

Trains reach 155mph in the tunnel(Image: FABRICE COFFRINI, AFP via Getty Images)

It serves as an essential connection for both travel and freight transportation throughout Europe. Accommodating both cargo and passenger services, it reduces journey times from Basel to Zurich and Milan to Lugano by as much as an hour, reports the Mirror.

The Gotthard tunnel stretches 57km in what is a 20 minute passage beneath the magnificent Alps. Impressively, its 2.3km depth rivals some of Earth’s deepest mining operations.

Thanks to innovative engineering, trains can travel through at speeds reaching 155mph.

Unlike older tunnels that wind their way up mountainsides, the Gotthard is totally flat and the first of its kind in the Alps or indeed any major mountain range. As the globe’s lengthiest tunnel, it surpasses the Channel Tunnel linking England and France by 7km.

A worker stands between train tracks in this arranged photograph taken inside the east section of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Faido, Switzerland, on Tuesday, July 15, 2014. Drilling and blasting on the 57-kilometer (35-mile) railroad tunnel linking Erstfeld in German-speaking central Switzerland and Bodio in the Italian-speaking south began in 1996, with completion expected in 2017. Photographer: Philipp Schmidli/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Steel rings throughout the tunnel keep the Alps from crushing the 57km long tunnel(Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

It exceeded the former world record holder, the Seikan rail tunnel, by 3km. The Seikan tunnel links Japan’s two largest islands, Honshu and Hokkaido.

The tunnel was constructed as a replacement for the original Gotthardbahn rail tunnel, a remarkable feat of engineering for its era that was finished in 1882.

Proposals for its successor commenced a century afterwards in the 1980s. It proved an ambitious and challenging undertaking that required 17 years to complete.

With 35 miles of mountainous terrain bearing down upon the passage, one of the most critical challenges was preventing the tunnel from caving in. Thankfully, reinforced steel rings stretching across the tunnel bear the mass of the mountain overhead.

The project deploying a massive drill measuring the length of four football pitches. At 410m long and 10m wide, it bored through 40m of mountain daily.