The Lötschberg Base Tunnel is located in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland, connecting Frutigen (in the Canton of Bern) and Rarogne (in the Canton of Valais). It is one of the longest railway tunnels in the world, measuring nearly 35 kilometers in length.
This railroad tunnel has a about 34.6 kilometers long, approximately. The maximum operating speed for trains on this infrastructure is 250 kilometers per hour.
Construction of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel began in 1999, and it entered service in December 2007. The cost of this tunnel was approximately 4.3 billion Swiss francs, which is equivalent to about 2.7 billion euros, approximately.
This tunnel is part of Alp Transit, a Swiss project aimed at connecting different locations across the Alps, consisting of two main corridors: the St. Gotthard Corridor and the Lötschberg Corridor. The St. Gotthard Base Tunnel, the Zimmerberg Tunnel, and the Monte Ceneri Tunnel are also part of this project.
The Lötschberg was the first tunnel in the AlpTransit project to be completed. This infrastructure handles an estimated 50 passenger trains and up to 60 freight trains per day.
The Lötschberg Base Tunnel is one of the most modern and safest tunnels in the world.
