AlpTransit

AlpTransit, also known as New Railway Link through the Alps, NRLA (German: Neue Eisenbahn-Alpentransversale, NEAT, French: nouvelle ligne ferroviaire à travers les Alpes, NLFA, Italian: Nuova ferrovia transalpina, NFTA), is Switzerland's largest-ever construction project for faster north-south rail links across the Swiss Alps by constructing a series of "base tunnels" several hundred metres below the current tunnels. For safety, all the tunnels have two parallel single-track bores joined about every 300 metres with cross cuts, enabling the other tunnel to be used for escape. The $13 billion project consists of two major sections, the Gotthard axis and the Lötschberg axis, including the 57-kilometre-long (35 mi) Gotthard Base Tunnel and the Lötschberg Base Tunnel, respectively. The centrepiece, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, is scheduled to become operational at the end of 2016, and the Ceneri Base Tunnel four years later in 2020.

Gotthard axis

The Gotthard axis, with the new Gotthard Base Tunnel at Gotthard, Zimmerberg, and Ceneri, is being built under contract from the Swiss Federal Government by the company AlpTransit Gotthard AG. At 57 km (35 miles) long, the Gotthard Base Tunnel is the world's longest railway tunnel, as the original Gotthard tunnel of 15 km (9.3 mi) was at the time of its completion in 1881. As of September 2014, the tunnel is due to open in June 2016. This updates previous estimate of 2018, according to a 2007 investigation for the Télévision Suisse Romande programme Temps Présent. The new Gotthard rail link, consisting of the Zimmerberg Base Tunnel, Gotthard Base Tunnel and Ceneri Base Tunnel, will be the first flat transalpine rail link with a maximum elevation of just 550 m above sea level. This results in a high-speed link through the Alps with a top speed of 250 km/h (160 mph) reducing travel time between Zurich and Milan from the current 4h00 to 2h30.