On Wednesday 1 June 2016, Luxembourg Minister of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure, François Bausch, will attend the official opening of the new 57km Gotthard Tunnel in Lugano, in the Italian-speaking Ticino region of Switzerland.
The tunnel aims to provide more capacity, faster connections and greater reliability on freight and passenger transport.
Switzerland represents an important hub in European freight and passenger transport. The new transalpine railway with base tunnels through the Gotthard, the Monte Ceneri and the Lötschberg offers an attractive, environmentally-friendly alternative to traffic on the road.
"With the construction of the new Gotthard Railway, Switzerland is achieving one of the largest environmental projects in Europe," the AlpTransit Gotthard AG developers announced.
At 57km long, the new Gotthard tunnel is the longest railway tunnel in the world and is at the heart of the new rail link throught the Alps.
Luxembourg and Switzerland share the modal shift from the road in their transport policies. To this end, Luxembourg is investing around €1.8 billion in the expansion of its rail infrastructure from 2016-2020.
The day before the official tunnel opening, a meeting of Transport Ministers will be held in the presence of European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc.
Photo by Wikimedia (Gotthard Base Tunnel)
