For a long time, the Alps in Europe made it hard for people and goods to move through. In Switzerland, this caused problems because most of the traffic passing through was just going through, not stopping in Switzerland.
But things started to change. In 1980, they built new roads and a tunnel called the Gotthard road tunnel to make it easier for trucks to move. However, this led to more traffic and accidents in tunnels.
To fix these issues and protect the environment, Switzerland made new rules in 1994 to keep the Alps safe. In 1992, they started a big project called the New Rail Link through the Alps (NRLA). This project created two long tunnels, the Gotthard Base Tunnel and the Lotschberg Base Tunnel, which are flatter and safer than the old ones.
The Gotthard Base Tunnel became the longest train tunnel in the world. It was tested in 2015, opened in 2016, and started carrying passengers in 2016. Another tunnel called the Ceneri Base Tunnel opened in 2020 to finish the project. These changes made it easier and safer to travel through the Alps in Switzerland.
