Monumental. That′s the word that best describes the Gotthard Base Tunnel project—both the effort behind it and the impact it will have. This enormous undertaking sounds simple enough: to drill a rail tunnel through the base of the Alps. But the degree of difficulty is off the charts—36 total miles of drilling, through different kinds of rock, hardened by millennia of pressure from the mountains above. The payoff will be just as immense, though: a more united Switzerland, streamlined trade and travel between northern and southern Europe, and a shift from trucking to rail shipping that will have global consequences. You can′t build much bigger than that.
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