Gotthard Base Tunnel

The two portals are near the villages Erstfeld, Uri and Bodio, Ticino. Nearby are two other St. Gotthard Tunnels: the 1881 Gotthard Rail Tunnel and the 1980 Gotthard Road Tunnel.
The route over Gotthard Pass (or one its tunnels) is one the most important passages through the Alps on the north-south axis in Europe. Traffic has increased more than tenfold since 1980 and the existing road and rail tunnels are at their limits.
To provide a faster and flatter passage through the Swiss Alps, the tunnel cuts through the Gotthard massif 600 m (1,969 ft) below the existing railway tunnel. On the current track, the Gotthardbahn, only trains up to 1,400 t (1,543 ST; 1,378 LT) when using two locomotives or up to 1,700 t (1,874 ST; 1,673 LT) with an additional bank engine at the end the train are able to pass through the narrow mountain valleys and through spiral tunnels climbing up to the portals the old tunnel at a height 1,100 m (3,609 ft) above sea level.