Switzerland's Gotthard Base Tunnel: The Railway That Redrew Europe

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Gotthard Base Tunnel — the world's longest railway tunnel, completed in 2016 after 17 years of construction. They trace the history of Alpine crossings from the medieval mule tracks and the Devil's Bridge (Teufelsbrücke) to the 1882 Gotthard Tunnel and the modern engineering marvel. They discuss the political and economic motivations behind the tunnel, the 24 workers who died during construction, the 57-kilometer bore through the Alpine massif, and how the tunnel has shifted freight from trucks to trains, cutting travel time between Zürich and Milan to under three hours. The conversation also touches on the 2017 derailment and the symbolic importance of the Gotthard as a unifying force for the Swiss Confederation, from the 13th century to the present. #GotthardBaseTunnel #Switzerland #Alps #RailwayHistory #Engineering #Neutrality #AlpineCrossings #Teufelsbrücke #SchöllenenGorge #CantonUri #CantonTicino #NEAT #AlpTransit #Eidgenossenschaft #FreightTransport #History #FexingoHistory #Podcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo