Image copyright AFP Image caption This photo was taken on October 15, 2010. Workers stand at a huge tunneling shield, with the help of which the tunnel was built.
The world's longest and deepest Gotthard railway tunnel opened today in Switzerland. Its construction took almost 20 years and more than $12 billion.
Its permanent operation will begin in December.
Swiss authorities say the tunnel will revolutionize the transport of goods in Europe. Goods that are now transported by millions of trucks every year will be transported by rail.
This marvel of technology will provide faster and easier communication between southern and northern Europe. The tunnel will speed up the movement of goods and people and reduce pollution environment vehicle exhaust gases.
Swiss authorities predict that 260 freight trains will be able to pass through the tunnel per day. 20 million passengers a year will be able to use the new highway. Travel time from Zurich to Milan will be reduced to 2 hours 50 minutes.
Conquest of the Alps as part of self-identification
Until now, the world's longest railway tunnel was considered the Japanese Seikan with a length of 53.9 km with an underwater fragment 23.3 km long.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Gotthard tunnel runs under the Alps - maximum height mountains above the tunnel is 2300 metersThe Gotthard Tunnel was also ahead of the length of the Channel Tunnel, which is 50.5 km long.
It is not only the longest tunnel in the world, it is also the deepest existing railway tunnel: the maximum height of the mountains above the tunnel is 2300 meters. Without a powerful ventilation system, the temperature in it would reach +40 degrees.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande will be present at the opening ceremony of the tunnel in Switzerland along with Swiss officials.
"It's part of the Swiss identity," Peter Fuglisthaler, head of the Swiss federal department of transport, was quoted by Reuters.
"For us, the conquest of the Alps is the same as the exploration of the oceans for the Dutch," he said.
Tunnel price: $12 billion and 9 lives
The project, which cost more than $12 billion to build, was approved by the Swiss in a referendum in 1992.
Image copyright EPA Image caption 20 million passengers a year will be able to use the new highwayDuring the construction of the tunnel, engineers extracted 73 different types of rocks: some were hard like granite, others soft like sugar. Nine workers died during construction.
The Gotthard Tunnel, completed on time and on budget, will become a mainline railway linking Rotterdam in the Netherlands with Italian Genoa. The tunnel, consisting of two parallel tunnels, runs from the municipality of Bodio in southern Switzerland to the municipality of Erstfeld in the center of the country.
From December, when the permanent operation of the tunnel begins, the journey from Zurich to Milan will take two hours and forty minutes - an hour less than usual.
The money to finance the project was taken from budget revenues from taxes on fuel and value added, another part of the funds is a state loan, which must be repaid within 10 years.
Representatives of the Swiss bank Credit Suisse said that among the economic benefits of the Gotthard Tunnel is the simplified transportation of goods and the influx of tourists.
It will be useful to know which of the railway tunnels is the longest, and which tunnel is the longest in the world. It is also interesting to find out the name of the longest tunnel in Russia and in its capital.
The longest railway tunnel
It is known that the longest tunnel among the railways is the unique Gotthard Tunnel in Switzerland. Its construction has been underway since 1999 - almost seventeen years, although the first sketch appeared in 1947. On June 1, 2016, the authorities announced that the tunnel would be ready for commissioning after a major test run until December 2016.An engineering structure has paved the way under a mountain pass called St. Gotthard. The length of the tunnel is fifty-seven kilometers, and if you count both shafts, as well as auxiliary passages and shafts, you get more than one hundred and fifty-three kilometers.
From 2017, the Gotthard Tunnel will become part of the NEAT (NEue AlpenTransversal) pan-European high-speed rail network, shortening the distance between Zurich and Milan. It is assumed that the speed of high-speed trains while passing through this underground tunnel will be about 250 kilometers per hour, and freight trains will reach speeds of at least 160 kilometers.
The tunnel was built so that trains could move in the opposite direction along different shafts. Emergency mines and emergency stations will be provided. Of the existing railway tunnels, the longest is the Seikan tunnel, located in Japan, which is only three kilometers shorter than Gotthard.
The longest tunnel in Moscow
Many tunnels have been built in Russian Moscow. Today, tunnels help to unload metropolitan roads, and are also optimal solution transport problem of the metropolis. One of the longest is the one that is laid under Serebryany Bor. Its length is more than three kilometers. This tunnel is one of the most difficult sections of Krasnopresnensky Prospekt. 
Thanks to this construction, it was not necessary to lay a road along Serebryany Bor. The tunnel has three tiers. On the lower tier, the movement of metro trains takes place, vehicles move on the middle tier, and the vaulted upper tier is designed for smoke removal. The exact length of this tunnel is 3126 meters. The middle tunnel, which is intended for vehicles, is three-lane, with a lane width of three and a half meters. The diameter of each tunnel is fourteen meters.
One of the longest metropolitan tunnels for a long time was the Lefortovsky tunnel. Its length is two kilometers one hundred and fifty meters. So far, the Serebryanoborsky tunnel remains the longest, but it will not remain the longest for long, as there are plans to build several more tunnels, among which there will be one whose length will exceed four kilometers.
The longest tunnel in Russia
It is interesting to find out the details about the longest tunnel in Russia. The Gyumrin tunnel, which is a road tunnel and is located in Dagestan, is recognized as such. It is the longest not only in Russia, but throughout the CIS. 
This tunnel connects nine mountainous regions of Dagestan with Makhachkala. It plays an important role, since with its help the inhabitants of the mountainous regions get to Makhachkala in just two or three hours.
Construction began in the seventies, but in the nineties the laying was suspended. In 2008, its reconstruction began, for which more than ten billion rubles were spent. The opening took place in autumn 2012.
The exact length of this tunnel is four kilometers, two hundred and eighty-five meters. It has operational ventilation, automatic fire alarm, television surveillance, public address and burglar alarms. A completely unique seismic laboratory has also been installed there, which is able to inform about seismic activity both in this region and beyond. The equipment for this laboratory was specially ordered in Italy.
The longest tunnel in the world
Since the tunnels are different, we can name the longest tunnels of each type. So the "champion" among the car tunnels is the Lördal Tunnel. It is located in Norway and has a length of twenty-four and a half kilometers. 
But the Delaware Aqueduct is considered the longest water tunnel. Since 1945, it has provided New York with water. Its length is one hundred and thirty-seven kilometers.
The longest railway tunnel was the Japanese Seikan for a long time. But soon the movement will begin along another already built tunnel, which is almost three kilometers longer than the Japanese one - this is the Gotthard Tunnel, laid in Switzerland under a mountain pass. Its length is fifty-seven kilometers.
The longest subway tunnel is in Guangzhou. The length of the third metro line is sixty-seven kilometers and three hundred meters.
There are also irrigation tunnels. The longest of them is the Turkish tunnel called Sanliurfa. His task is to distribute the water of the Euphrates River so that the nearby desert lands can be turned into fruitful farms. It consists of two main tunnels, twenty-six kilometers four hundred meters each. Among reclamation systems, this is an absolute record.
Interest is caused not only by tunnels, but also by bridges. For example, according to the site, the longest railway bridge in the world is 164.8 kilometers long. You can read more about this.
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The relief of the earth's surface is not perfectly flat, but is almost always complex, so when laying roads, it is almost impossible to do without tunnels. The prototypes of tunnels in ancient times were tunnels, with the help of this military trick it was possible to quietly get behind the back of the enemy and fall on his shoulders. Today's tunnels, for the most part, serve completely different purposes. Tunnels are very different, differing in length, location and structure. What is currently the longest tunnel in the world?
10. Lerdal Tunnel, Norway (24,510 m)
In this case, we are talking about a road tunnel that shortened the path from the municipality of Lärdal to another municipality of Aurland (both in the province of Sogn og Fjordane, Western Norway). The tunnel is an element of the European route E16, connecting Oslo with Bergen. The construction of this tunnel began in 1995 and was completed in 2000. At that time, it became the world's longest road tunnel, surpassing the famous Gotthard by as much as 8 km. road tunnel. Above the tunnel are mountains with an average height of about 1600 meters.
The Lerdal Tunnel has unique feature- three large artificial grottoes are selected in it at the same distance from each other. These grottoes break the tunnel itself into 4 approximately identical sections. This is not a whim of architects, but the purpose of grottoes is to relieve fatigue from drivers who drive for a long time in completely monotonous conditions of the tunnel, and besides, they can stop and rest here.
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9. Iwate-Ichinohe, Japan (25,810 m)
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The Japanese tunnel connecting the capital with the city of Aomori, at the time of its opening in 2002, it was he who was the longest Japanese railway tunnel, until the Lötschberg tunnel overtook him. This tunnel is located 545 kilometers from Tokyo, halfway between Hachinohe and Morioka, and Chohoku express trains run through it. We thought about its construction in 1988, and started it in 1991. The facility was ready for operation in 2000, but the line started operating only in 2002. The tunnel goes down to a maximum of 200 meters.
8. Hakkoda, Japan (26,455 m)
The Hakkod railway tunnel is only slightly longer than the previous one. He was a kind of pioneer - before him there were no long tunnels in the world through which trains could simultaneously move in different directions.
7. Taihang, China (27,848 m)
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In 2007, a new Taihangshan tunnel was put into operation in China, passing through the thickness of the mountain range of the same name. Before the construction of the New Guan Jiao, it was he who was the longest Chinese tunnel. It became an element of a high-speed railroad that connected the capital of the eastern province of Hebei, Shijiach-Juan, with the capital of the adjoining Shanxi province from the west, the city of Taiyuan. If earlier it took 6 hours to get from one city to another, now an hour is enough.
6. Guadarrama, Spain (28,377 m)
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In the same 2007, but in Spain, the opening of the longest tunnel in the country Guadarrama took place, which connected the capital of the country Madrid with Valladolid. It began to be built in 2002, so it is obvious that this was done at a fairly rapid pace. This is a rather complex technical structure, which also contains two separate tunnels. Thanks to this, trains run along it simultaneously in different directions. It is especially worth noting that high-speed trains of the AVE system are used here. After the launch of the tunnel, it became possible to get from one city to another in just a few minutes. This was especially liked by tourists, who began to visit Valladolid more often from the capital.
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5. New Guan Jiao, China (32,645 m)
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This is China's longest railway tunnel. At the same time, being located, as it should be for a tunnel underground, it is located at a very decent height above sea level (from 3324 meters to 3381 meters). And all because it is part of the second line of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, laid in the mountains of Guan Jiao, China's Qinghai province. In fact, there are two separate tunnels with one-way traffic. This tunnel was built for 7 years, and it was put into operation at the very end of 2014. Trains are able to rush through these tunnels at a speed of 160 km/h.
4. Lötschberg, Switzerland (34,577 m)
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The railway tunnel Lötschberg is located on the line of the same name, passing through the Alps, and it is located 400 meters deeper than the road tunnel Lötschberg. Passenger and freight trains ply through this one of the longest land tunnels in the world. It passes under cities such as Bern, Frutigen, Valais and Rarone. This is a fairly new tunnel, because it was only completed in 2006, and already in June next year it was officially opened. During its passage, the most modern technologies drilling, so it was possible to break through in less than two years. Now more than 20,000 Swiss use it every week, seeking to quickly get to thermal spas in Val.
The appearance of Lötschberg has greatly reduced the amount of traffic congestion in the area, since previously trucks and vans had to bypass Switzerland, making a big circle just from Valais to Bern. It is curious that in the tunnel there is a source of hot underground water, which the Swiss also do not lose for nothing, but use it to heat the greenhouse, where tropical fruits grow thanks to this.
3. Eurotunnel, France/UK (50,450 m)
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This tunnel, laid under the English Channel, is a double-track railway tunnel, while it runs 39 kilometers under the waters of the English Channel. Thanks to him, the island of Great Britain was connected with the continent by rail. Since then, it has become possible to take a train in Paris and be in London in two and a quarter hours. At the same time, the train stays in the tunnel itself for 20-35 minutes.
The grand opening of the tunnel took place on May 6, 1994. It was attended by the leaders of the two countries - French President Francois Mitterrand and Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. The Eurotunnel holds the record for underwater tunnels and is also the longest international tunnel. It is operated by the Eurostar company. The American Society of Civil Engineers was full of compliments and even compared the Eurotunnel with one of the seven modern wonders Sveta.
2. Seikan, Japan (53,850 m)
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This incredibly long Japanese railway tunnel also has an underwater section of 23.3 kilometers. It deepens underground by 240 meters, resulting in 100 meters below the seabed. The tunnel runs under the Sangar Strait and connects Aomori Prefecture (Honshu Island) and Hokkaido Island. It is part of the Kaikyo and Hokkaido Shinkansen of the local railway company.
In length, it is second only to the Gotthard Tunnel, and in terms of its occurrence under the seabed, it is the leader in the world. The name of the tunnel contains the first hieroglyphs of the names of the cities that it connects - Amori and Hakodate, just those on Japanese are pronounced differently. The Seikan Tunnel is Japan's second undersea railway tunnel after the Kammon Tunnel, and it connects the islands of Kyushu and Honshu under the Kammon Strait.
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1. Gotthard Tunnel, Switzerland (57,091 m)
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This railway tunnel, pierced in the Swiss Alps, when summing up its own length with the length of pedestrian and service passages, will stretch for 153.4 kilometers. From the north end it exits near the village of Erstfeld, while the south exit is located near the village of Bodio. The laying of its eastern part was completed in October 2010, and the western part in March 2011, after which it became the longest railway tunnel in the world.
Thanks to its construction, the transalpine rail service became possible, and the north-west of Italy was able to switch from more environmentally polluted road transport to cleaner and cheaper rail transport. Travel time from Zurich to Milan was reduced by almost an hour. The tunnel was opened in June 2016. Alp Transit Gotthard, which supervises its construction, in December of the same year transferred it to the Swiss Federal railways in fully operational condition, and already on December 11, its commercial operation began.
As you know, the shortest path from point A to point B is a straight line. But what if it is impossible to lay a road in a straight line due to a mountain, river or sea blocking the path? This problem is often solved by building a tunnel underground. Modern tunnels are a real challenge to nature, their complex structure is a masterpiece of engineering. In addition, some tunnels are also distinguished by an unusual appearance, due to the peculiarities of the landscape or the imagination of the architect. Here is a selection of the most impressive tunnels from around the world.
10 PHOTOS
The material was prepared with the support of the site les-kodru.com.ua - environmentally friendly materials for construction. Building houses is not that difficult. like building tunnels, but it also requires careful selection good materials. One of these is deck board, used in the arrangement of verandas, terraces and gazebos.
The project to create a tunnel under the Bosphorus, connecting the European and Asian parts of Istanbul, started in 2004 and cost the state $3.5 billion. The total length of the tunnel is 13.6 km. Interestingly, sections of the tunnel, which are located at a depth of 60 meters below sea level, have flexible connections to absorb the energy of tremors. The name "Marmaray" comes from the Turkish words "Marmara" meaning the Sea of Marmara and "ray" meaning rail.
The Eisenhower Road Tunnel is notable for being one of the tallest tunnels in the world. Its height above sea level is 3.401 meters.
A railway tunnel that runs through the Alps and provides freight traffic from the north to the west of the country. At the moment, it is the longest railway tunnel in the world - its total length is 57.1 km. Although the construction work has already been completed, the opening of the tunnel is planned only in June this year.
This underground railway tunnel is an amazing botanical phenomenon. The green arched tunnel was created not by human hands, but by the natural interweaving of trees and bushes. The Tunnel of Love is a popular place of pilgrimage for tourists, especially couples in love. In 2014, Japanese director Akiyoshi Imazaki made the film "Klevan: Tunnel of Love", the plot of which is directly related to the Ukrainian tunnel.
Railway tunnel under the English Channel connecting France and Great Britain. The length of the tunnel is about 51 km, however, by TGV train, the Eurotunnel can be reached from Paris to London in just 2 hours and 15 minutes.
This tunnel, which runs 647 meters under the Huangpu River and connects the Bund and Pudong districts, is very popular with tourists. The fact is that the Bund tunnel is not so much a way to travel as an exciting attraction for entertainment. The optical technologies used in it, in combination with musical accompaniment make the trip through the Bund Tunnel an unforgettable experience.
Tunnel in the rock, punched under the Jewish king Hezekiah to provide the city with water. It served to supply water from the Gion spring to the Siloam reservoir. Today, a visit to the Siloam tunnel is included in the program of most excursions in Jerusalem. The tunnel itself is included in the complex of the archaeological park "City of David".
This tunnel, carved into the slopes of the Bernese Alps, opens directly onto the Aletsch Glacier, located next to the beautiful peaks of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau mountains. Leaving the Jungfraujoch tunnel, you can immediately admire the dizzying panorama of the landscape of Switzerland, France and Germany.
The Guoliang Road Tunnel is a real landmark of China. The tunnel, about 1200 meters long and only 4 meters wide, was built by 12 local residents. Interesting feature tunnel is that it is partially open - this was done for the purpose of lighting.
The longest road tunnel in the world, the Lärdal Tunnel runs through mountains and forms part of the motorway between Oslo and Bergen. The total length of the tunnel is 24.5 km.
What is a tunnel? This is an underground structure, in which the length is much greater than the width and height. Many of them have been built in the world - pedestrian and bicycle, for moving vehicles, water, laying cables and other human needs. The article tells about the longest tunnel in Moscow.
purpose
Tunnels are needed in order to be able to overcome various kinds of obstacles, such as mountains or rivers (in some places, building a bridge across a reservoir is problematic from an engineering point of view or it interferes with the passage of ships). With their help, you can significantly reduce the path and time in the drog, and the tunnels also help to unload traffic flows or avoid crossing them.
Short story
This building is one of the oldest. More than ten thousand years ago, people already cut down passages in the mountains, mine shafts, catacombs and quarries. Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Babylonians long before new era carried out underground work for the extraction of iron ore, coal, the construction of temples and tombs, cave cities, the installation of water supply, and later - for the passage of transport.
In the Middle Ages, many tunnels were built for military purposes, at a later time they began to be built as waterways.
The first tunnel for the movement of trains was built in 1826-1830 for communication between Liverpool and Manchester, while in Russia the first such structure appeared a little later - in 1862.
In 1927, the world's first tunnel was laid under the Hudson in the USA. In the USSR, a similar structure arose in 1959 in Moscow on Kutuzovsky Prospekt. Today there are many underground roads in the capital. Next, we find out which is the longest car tunnel in Moscow. Its name and description, Interesting Facts are presented below.
The longest tunnel in Moscow: name, description
In the capital of the Russian Federation, the leader in mileage is its length - 3 kilometers 246 meters, it is one of the largest in Europe. Opened in December 2003. It is located in the southeastern part of the city, passes under the Yauza River, and is part of the 3rd transport ring.
There are only 7 traffic lanes here: 3 of them go north, and 4 go south. The width of each lane is 3.5 meters.
The longest tunnel in Moscow lies at a depth of 30 meters, which is necessary for noise and vibration absorption of a huge traffic flow. It is also equipped with the necessary life support and security systems: good ventilation, drainage and fire fighting systems. Video cameras and payphones are installed along the entire length of the underground road, and a radio signal is caught. The operation of all communications is monitored by a special control room.
"Tunnel of Death" - an undeserved nickname
Medium throughput Lefortovo underground facility is 3500 vehicles per hour. But during peak hours, the traffic intensity increases to 7-8 thousand cars per hour, and it is difficult for the tunnel to cope with such a load, so accidents often occur here, in which people sometimes die. According to statistics, this is the longest tunnel in Moscow - one of the most risky road sections. For this, the people called it the "tunnel of death."
However, the main causes of all accidents, as you know, is a violation of the rules traffic. The same is true in the Lefortovo automobile subway: at the maximum permitted speed of 60 km/h, not a single car drives slower than 75-80 km/h. Speed record - 236 km/h! Violations are confirmed by video recordings of many accidents.
Another record holder
After Lefortovsky, the longest tunnel in Moscow is Serebryanoborsky. It was opened at the end of 2007. Its total length is 3 kilometers 126 meters, the depth is just over 40 meters.
This second longest tunnel in Moscow consists of three "sleeves" and is part of Krasnopresnensky avenue, the construction of which continues to this day. This automobile underground road is located under a state-protected natural area Silver Forest. It originates at the intersection of Osennaya and Krylatskaya streets and ends in the west of Moscow at Troitse-Lykovo.
Now you know which is the longest tunnel in Moscow.