World's longest rail tunnel sees light at end of decades' wait

[WorldNews]

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When Swiss engineer Carl Eduard Gruner came up with the idea to build the world's longest rail tunnel under the Alps in 1947, he predicted the visionary project could be finished by the start of the 21st century. Gruner's sketch and technical paper called "Journey through the Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) in the year 2000" planted the seeds for a venture that will be launched this week and aims to transform travel through the heart of Europe. Constructing the 57-kilometre (35-mile) rail tunnel took just over 12 billion Swiss francs ($12 billion, 11 billion euros) and some 2,400 workers, according to Swiss government statistics.

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