Switzerland Guide
Zentralschweiz
The Gotthard Tunnels
In 1872, after decades of debate over routes and costs, work began on a rail tunnel beneath the Gotthard Pass. Over seven years and 277 lives later, the bores which had begun simultaneously from Göschenen and Airolo met midway on February 29, 1880. The first trains ran through the 15km-long tunnel in 1882.
This line is still a vital north– south artery, carrying at peak times an average of one train every six minutes – with five million passengers and 25 million tonnes of freight carried to and fro each year. The Gotthard journey is one of Switzerland's great train rides, not so much for the long stretch of blackness as you swoosh beneath the Alps, but for the spectacular approach. South of Flüelen, you climb slowly and dramatically up the wild valley, passing through dozens of straight tunnels and, around Wassen, a series of tightly spiralled tunnels, which gain maximum altitude at minimum gradients. Wassen's little onion-domed church, prominent on its rock, is a famous landmark: you'll pass it three times, first high above you, then on a level, and finally far below you before you're plunged into darkness shortly afterwards at Göschenen. Trains emerge at Airolo for the long journey down to Bellinzona.
Work is now well under way on the new Gotthard Base Tunnel, part of an ambitious project to upgrade high-speed train routes beneath the Alps in order to take freight off the roads and shorten long-distance rail journeys. When the tunnel opens in 2012, trains will enter at Erstfeld, a few kilometres south of Altdorf, speeding through the deep tunnel at up to 250kph to the exit at Bodio, 58km south. Cutting out the long climb up to Göschenen and the long descent from Airolo will shave a full hour off Zürich– Milan journey times.