In 2018, the European Railway Award will go to the Gotthard Base Tunnel project, for delivering the world’s longest railway tunnel, shifting freight to rail.

In figures: 57 km length; up to 2300 m deep; 28.2 million tonnes total volume of excavated material; 2600 persons employed and 3900 persons trained; 17 years construction/commissioning time; 11 billion euros cost; 249 km/h max. travel speed; less than 20 min. travel time through the tunnel; max. 260 freight and 65 passenger trains per day.

The longest rail tunnel in the world, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, officially entered into service on 11 December 2016. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is an outstanding example of shifting freight transport to more environmentally friendly modes of transport, by relying on public support and a fair financing system. The tunnel is at the heart of Europe’s most important rail freight axis – the Rhine-Alpine corridor boosting rail freight traffic from Rotterdam to Genoa. Rail passengers are enjoying reduced travel times and more seats. From 9 000 daily passengers in 2015, the Gotthard passenger traffic is expected to nearly double to 15 000 daily passengers in 2021.

Peter Jedelhauser, former Head of the Gotthard North South Corridor Project at SBB, and Renzo Simoni, former CEO of AlpTransit Gotthard Ltd will be present at the ceremony on 20 February 2018 to accept the award on behalf of the European workforce who brought the project to life.