The New Railway Link through the Alps, is a Swiss construction project for faster north–south rail links across the Swiss Alps. It consists of two axes with several improvements along these rails including three new base tunnels several hundred metres below the existing apex tunnels, the 57-kilometre (35 mi) Gotthard Base Tunnel, the 35-kilometre (22 mi) Lötschberg Base Tunnel, and the 15-kilometre (9.3 mi) Ceneri Base Tunnel. Swiss Federal Railways subsidiary AlpTransit Gotthard AG and BLS AG subsidiary BLS Alp Transit AG were founded for this project and built the tunnels.
The NRLA project is the centrepiece of the Central European rail network.
Three-way junction under construction in the Gotthard Base Tunnel in 2006
Called "the project of the century", the Gotthard Base Tunnel is the first flat route through any major mountain range, from the northern plains (here in Erstfeld) to the southern plains. In the background here looms the majestic 3,073-metre-high (10,082 ft) Bristen mountain.
The Gotthard Base Tunnel is a railway tunnel through the Alps in Switzerland. It opened in June 2016 and full service began the following December. With a route length of 57.09 km (35.5 mi), it is the world's longest railway and deepest traffic tunnel and the first flat, low-level route through the Alps. It lies at the heart of the Gotthard axis and constitutes the third tunnel connecting the cantons of Uri and Ticino, after the Gotthard Tunnel and the Gotthard Road Tunnel.
Turnout at Faido multifunction station
Erstfeld, north portal, 460 m (1,510 ft) a.s.l.
Amsteg portal (maintenance access), 507 m (1,663 ft) a.s.l.
Sedrun portal (maintenance access, bridge over the Anterior Rhine), 1,334 m (4,377 ft) a.s.l.
