Another deep railway tunnel under the Alps has been put into operation in Switzerland. The Ceneri tunnel is located in the south of the country in Ticino and will soon reduce travel time between central Switzerland and northern Italy, reports our own correspondent Travel.ru.
Commercial operation of the tunnel will begin on December 13. Travel time between Zurich and Milan should then be reduced from 3 hours 40 minutes to 3 hours 17 minutes. A further reduction is expected in the coming years, to 3 hours after work on Italian territory is completed. The journey from Zurich to Lugano will be reduced to two hours. In addition, the journey between Bellzona and Lugano, which currently takes half an hour, will be twice as fast. Travel time between Lugano and Locarno will be reduced from the current 50-65 minutes to half an hour.
The Ceneri tunnel is over 15 kilometers long and will connect Lugano almost directly with Bellinzona. Currently, this route runs along a historic mountain route along the river. From December 13, only local trains will be allowed to use it - all mainline and freight trains will be transferred to the new tunnel.
Source: travel.ru