Switzerland. Canton of Grisons. Sedrun. A smiling technician from the AlpTransit Gotthard Ltd stands on the walway inside the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The Gotthard Base Tunnel consists of two 57-kilometres-long single-track tubes, including all cross-passages, access tunnels and shafts. It links the north portal at Erstfeld (Canton of Uri) with the south portal at Bodio (Canton of Ticino). With a rock overburden of up to 2 300 metres, the Gotthard Base Tunnel is not only the world's longest, but also the world's deepest, railway tunnel constructed to date. Two multifunction stations, at Faido and Sedrun, divide both tubes into three approximately equally long sections. The multifunction stations each contain emergency-stop stations and two track crossovers. In the event of an incident, such as a fire in a train or a fault in the Gotthard Base Tunnel, whenever possible the affected train travels out of the tunnel into the open air. If this is not possible, the train driver halts the train at one of the emergency-stop stations. The Gotthard Base Tunnel will be officially opened on June 1, 2016, and for scheduled commercial services in December 2016. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is a major technical implementation for a new railway line. With the New Rail Link through the Alps (NRLA), important goals of Swiss transport policy can be implemented: transfer of goods traffic from road to rail, and improvements with quicker travel in passenger trafic. 10.03.2016 © 2016 Didier Ruef