Gotthard tunnel, Switzerland, (RSR, Fre) – Miners broke through to the western tunnel of the the Gotthard base tunnel rail project Wednesday, according to AlpTransit Gothard AG, the CFF rail company subsidiary in charge of the project. The opening comes nine months ahead of schedule, good news for a project that has had mining setbacks. The Gotthard was scheduled to open in 2016 but that date has been pushed to 2017 due to drilling delays. The tunnel will be the longest in the world, with a total length of 57km.

The Loetschberg Tunnel, which earlier in 2007 opened to freight traffic, is 34.6km and will begin to take passenger trains in December 2007.