The hole that was opened between the Italian and Austrian sides of the tunnel construction on Thursday means a milestone in an EU initiative on railways that stretches from Finland to Sicily.
No project is too big for us to invest in, said Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni proudly, according to media on site.
The air quality will improve, the noise will decrease and the carbon dioxide emissions will fall, said EU Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas.
He is referring, among other things, to the fact that the railway will relieve the motorway that has been above since the 1960s, in the up to 1,400 meters high Brenner Pass.
Halved travel time
However, it will take some time before the trains can start rolling in the Brenner tunnel. The traffic start is estimated to be in 2032. The travel time between Germany's southern metropolis Munich and Verona in Italy will then be halved, from just over five hours to two and a half between the city centers. And from Paris to Milan, the high-speed trains will come down to a travel time of four and a half hours.
The news agency AP describes the tunnel as the first major railway upgrade in Italy since the high-speed line Rome–Milan opened in 2008, and then basically knocked out the previously very popular and lucrative air route between the two major cities.
When you count in the already existing tunnel section past Innsbruck in Austria, the underground Brenner connection is expected to become the world's longest long-distance train tunnel, 64 kilometers long.
Bridge to Sicily
But the competition is tough under the Alps. The Gotthard Base Tunnel between Italy and Switzerland, which was put into operation in 2016, is 57 kilometers long. And in parallel with the Brenner construction, the construction of the Mont-d'Ambin/Mont-Cenis base tunnel has now been initiated further west, which will connect Lyon in France with Italian Turin. This is also expected to be up to six miles long.
In addition to the countries involved, the EU is also financing the multi-billion constructions, with the argument that they bring the member countries closer to each other. The Brenner tunnel is part of an EU initiative for better and faster train connections throughout the union, from Finland in the north to the Italian islands in the south. As part of this, a bridge will also be built between the Italian mainland and Sicily.
