Crossing the Alps by train, digging through mountains, creating long tunnels to unite the north and south with modern means of transport. Switzerland’s dream first came true with the St Gotthard tunnel. Work began in 1872. The inauguration took place ten years later, from 22 to 25 May 1882. The 15-km tunnel, between Airolo in Canton Ticino and Göschenen in Canton Uri, earned the St Gotthard the title of the longest railway tunnel in the world.
Robert Walser
The history of the alpine tunnels created in the second half of the nineteenth century is also the history of thousands of workers and labourers employed on exhausting shifts for hours at a time in the bowels of the earth, working at temperatures of over 30 degrees centigrade. There were numerous accidents and deaths (approximately 200) during the construction of the St Gotthard tunnel.