Switzerland Completes World's Longest Tunnel
Swiss officials declared a day of joy Friday as residents of the Alpine nation celebrated the breakthrough moment for the world's longest tunnel — a project 60 years in the making.
A gigantic drilling machine chewed through the remaining 8,200 feet separating the two ends of the 35.4-mile Gotthard Base Tunnel in central Switzerland.
Miners, VIPs and journalists inside the tunnel cheered as Switzerland reclaimed the tunnel record from Japan's Seikan Tunnel.
The tunnel is seen as an important milestone in the creation of a high-speed transportation network connecting all corners of Europe. It will allow millions of tons of goods that are currently transported through the Alps on heavy trucks to be shifted onto the rails, particularly the economically important link between the Dutch port of Rotterdam and Italy's Mediterranean port of Genoa.
Read more at www.npr.org
No comments:
Post a Comment