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A Switzerland rail tunnel has overtaken the Japan’s Seikan Rail Tunnel as the world’s longest and deepest tunnel. The Gothard Base Tunnel is a 57-kilometre long high-speed link. It has superseded the Japan’s 53.9km Seikan rail tunnel and is now hailed and pedestaled at first.
The record-bing tunnel, burrowed under the Alp’s snow-capped peaks, was inaugurated on Wednesday, It almost took two decades to carpet the longest railway tunnel with the budget of 12.2 billion Swiss francs ($12 billion), according to SlashDot.
The tunnel is 2.2 kilometers deeper towards the core. It marked the celebration of “Swiss values such as innovation, precision, and reliability to the world,” according to Gottardo 2016.
The new route was formally given green sign after two trains depart from opposite directions with each carrying hundreds of lucky draw winners.
The celebration featured several dance performances and a tunnel theme song. Big dignitaries like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, also attended the ceremony.
“You have created a great European infrastructure,” Hollande said at the tunnel’s southern exit, according to Los Angeles Times.
“It will be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, redirect traffic from the road to rail and move passengers and goods faster,” he added.
The ceremony was propped up with 2000 Swiss troops, helicopters overhead with some air restrictions.
Other longest tunnels that follow Gothard and Seikan are Euro Tunnel, France to the UK(50.5km) ; Yulhyeon Tunnel, South Korea(50.3km); Lotschberg Base Tunnel, Switzerland(34.6km) and New Guanjiao Tunnel, China(32.6km).
Swiss Federal President Johann Schneider-Ammann, has called the project a giant step towards the Switzerland and its neighbors, reports BBC.
On the 4th and 5th of June, the country will celebrate the opening of the tunnel at the festival sites in Rynächt, Erstfeld, Pollegio, and Biasca. It might be celebrating on one of the stations. Around 50,000 to 100,000 are expected to attend the event.
