What is Gotthard Base Tunnel?
[[File:20141120 gotthard-basistunnel02-wikipedia-hannes-ortlieb.jpg|thumb|250px|Turnout at Faido multifunction station]] [[File:Map Gotthard-Basistunnel.png|thumb|250px|Map of the Gotthard Base Tunnel]] The '''Gotthard Base Tunnel''' ('''GBT'''; {{lang-de|link=no|Gotthard-Basistunnel}}, {{lang-it|link=no|Galleria di base del San Gottardo}}, {{lang-rm|link=no|Tunnel da basa dal Son Gottard}}) is a railway [[tunnel]] in [[Switzerland]]. With a route length of {{convert|57.09|km|mi|1|abbr=on}}, it is the longest tunnel in the world. The link consists of two [[Single track (rail)|single-track]] tunnels connecting [[Erstfeld]] (Uri) with [[Bodio]] ([[Ticino]]) and passing below [[Sedrun]] ([[Canton of Graubünden|Graubünden]]). The main purpose of the Gotthard Base Tunnel is to increase local transport capacity through the Alpine barrier, especially for freight, notably on the [[Blue Banana|Rotterdam–Basel–Genoa corridor]], and more specifically to shift freight volumes from trucks to freight trains. This both significantly reduces the danger of fatal road crashes involving trucks, and reduces the [[environmental degradation|environmental damage]] caused by heavy [[truck]]s. The tunnel provides a faster connection between the [[Cantons of Switzerland|canton]] of Ticino and the rest of Switzerland, as well as between northern and [[southern Europe]], cutting the [[Basel]]/[[Zurich]]–[[Lugano]]–[[Milan]] journey time for passenger trains by 1 hour (and from [[Lucerne]] to [[Bellinzona]] by 45 minutes). After 64 percent of Swiss voters accepted the NRLA project in [[Swiss referendums, 1992|a 1992 referendum]], first preparatory and exploratory work began in 1996. The official start of construction began on 4 November 1999 at [[Silenen|Amsteg]]. As of 1998, the total projected cost of the project was [[Swiss franc|CHF]] 6.323&nbsp;billion; as of December 2015, the final cost is projected as CHF 9.560&nbsp;billion. ==Other websites== *[https://www.alptransit-portal.ch/de/startseite/ AlpTransit Gotthard AG] {{Webarchive|u