AlpTransit, the tunnel is officially open

This is the day of AlpTransit. With the new railway timetable coming into force, the Gotthard base tunnel, which is 57 km long, and which connects Pollegio and Erstfeld, has been officially opened, and the first passenger and freight trains have arrived in Lugano.

While waiting for the Monte Ceneri base tunnel, which will open in 2020, the distance between Italian-speaking Switzerland and German-speaking Switzerland is already shorter: the Lugano – Zürich journey takes two hours and 10 minutes.

The main railway stations have become the heart of new sustainable mobility, and so, today, Sunday 11 December, the new FFS station of Lugano and the new Cable Railway, which connects the station to the heart of the town centre will also be officially inaugurated.

HALF HOUR LESS ON JOURNEYS BETWEEN TICINO AND INTERNAL SWITZERLAND

“IT’S LIKE CHRISTMAS”
The first passenger train left this morning from Zürich at 06:09 and arrived, on time, in Lugano, at 08:17, after a short stop in Bellinzona. “It’s like Christmas,” said the Chief Executive Officer of FFS, Andreas Meyer, when he arrived in Lugano, to emphasise the importance of this day.

Marco Borradori
@MBorradori
We dreamt about this for a long time, and now AlpTransit is a reality. The first goods and passenger trains have arrived in Lugano