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Article: Swiss make molehills out of mountains.(the Saint Gotthard tunnel)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Geographical
- Article date:
- November 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Circle Publishing Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Work should finish this month on the first access tunnel to the new Saint Gotthard Pass tunnel, part of a huge trans-Alpine rail system linking Swiss railways to the European high-speed rail network. Due for completion in 2012, the 57 km-tunnel will be the world's longest, almost seven kilometres longer than the Channel Tunnel.
With trade between EC countries at an all-time high, trans-Alpine goods traffic has almost tripled over the last 25 years. More than 50 million cars and seven million heavy goods vehicles cross the Alps each year, while projections indicate a further doubling of goods traffic and a 50 per cent growth in passenger vehicles by 2020.
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