Gotthard tunnel: World's longest and deepest rail tunnel opens in Switzerland

[TomSea]

Gotthard tunnel: World's longest and deepest rail tunnel opens in Switzerland

The world's longest and deepest rail tunnel has officially opened in Switzerland, after almost two decades of construction work.

The 57km (35-mile) twin-bore Gotthard base tunnel will provide a high-speed rail link under the Swiss Alps between northern and southern Europe.

Switzerland says it will revolutionise European freight transport.

Goods currently carried on the route by a million lorries a year will go by train instead.

The tunnel has overtaken Japan's 53.9km Seikan rail tunnel as the longest in the world and pushed the 50.5km Channel Tunnel linking the UK and France into third place.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36423250

[Chieftain]

They're talking about American style inter-modal transport where everything moves in a container that can easily go from ship to rail to truck and back again.  This really will make an enormous difference in the time and expense of moving freight in and around the EU.

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

They're talking about American style inter-modal transport where everything moves in a container that can easily go from ship to rail to truck and back again.  This really will make an enormous difference in the time and expense of moving freight in and around the EU.

 

Says it's high speed rail, which isn't usually cargo.

An impressive engineering feat but, isn't it more practical to just fly over the damn mountains?

I'll never understand people's obsession with high speed rail. Never.

[r9etb]

Goods currently carried on the route by a million lorries a year will go by train instead.

Golly. 

[r9etb]

An impressive engineering feat but, isn't it more practical to just fly over the damn mountains?

Call me when you can build a plane that carries as much as a train.....

I'll never understand people's obsession with high speed rail. Never.

It seems to work quite well in Europe.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Call me when you can build a plane that carries as much as a train.....

It seems to work quite well in Europe.

Throw enough subsidies at anything and you can claim it works. When I was in Europe I had heard that the best way to get around was still plane, the HSR was only economical if you bought a monthly pass. You have all that infrastructure built and it still doesn't even get to half of the cruising speed of a plane.

Even in the US Amtrak is almost never as good of a deal as a plane and also quite slower.

[r9etb]

Throw enough subsidies at anything and you can claim it works. When I was in Europe I had heard that the best way to get around was still plane, the HSR was only economical if you bought a monthly pass.

Apples and oranges -- unless you can also buy a monthly pass for plane travel.  But for those who use the train frequently... why not?

You have all that infrastructure built and it still doesn't even get to half of the cruising speed of a plane.

True.  But then, you can't get an airplane to drop you off right in the middle of downtown Paris, either.  Just like any other big city, it takes a good 90 minutes to get from downtown Paris to Charles DeGaulle Airport.  Last summer I took a high speed train from London to Paris.  Comfortable, clean, convenient.... and 2.5 hours.  By plane, it would have taken me that long just to get to and from the airports.

Even in the US Amtrak is almost never as good of a deal as a plane and also quite slower.

The cost/benefit analysis for passenger rail in the US is significantly different than for Europe, however; and even in the US the case for rail along the Eastern Seaboard is far different than for transcontinental travel.