The world’s longest tunnel is located in Switzerland. Its name is Gotthard Base Tunnel. The Swiss government built it for rail transport. This tunnel, opened in the year 2016, is about 57 kilometers long. This tunnel is considered one of the most important transportation routes in Europe. According to reports, due to the construction of this tunnel, Switzerland Railways benefited a lot and train travel also became much faster than before.
How much money did it cost to build this tunnel
The construction work of the Gotthard Base Tunnel started in 1999. According to reports, state-of-the-art technologies were used in its construction. It took about 12 years to build this tunnel and the entire project cost about 12 billion Swiss francs i.e. about 12.5 billion US dollars.
This figure will reach trillions in Indian rupees. With the amount of money spent in building this one tunnel, Antilia and Burj Khalifa will be built. According to the report of Swiss Federal Railways, this expenditure also included machinery, workers’ wages and safety measures. About 2,500 laborers worked to build this tunnel.
how it is made
Many special technical features were included in the design of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, such as ventilation systems, safety measures and train operation speed. This tunnel is divided into two lanes, which allows trains to run in two directions. Let us tell you, the maximum speed of trains in this tunnel is 250 kilometers per hour, which makes it one of the fastest railway routes in Europe.
Who built this tunnel?
The construction work of the Gotthard Base Tunnel has been carried out by the company Metatransit Gotthard AG. It is a subsidiary of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS). Four Herrenkent gripper tunnel boring machines were used to build the tunnel. Each of these machines was 1,400 feet long. Let us tell you, the cost of these machines alone was approximately 21 million dollars. Apart from this, tunnel boring machine was used to make it. The hydraulic arms installed in this machine used to grind even the biggest stones into powder. It is said that if these two machines were not there, this tunnel would not have been built till 2016.
Also read: Everest, the world’s highest peak, then why can’t anyone climb Mount Kailash? know the secret
