On this day – February 24th

Italy meets Switzerland 2000m underground

The Simplon Tunnel connects Brig, Switzerland and Domodossola, Italy, through the Alps, providing a shortcut under the Simplon Pass route. It is straight except for short curves at either end. It actually consists of two single-track tunnels built nearly 15 years apart. The first to be opened is 19,803 m long; the second is 19,824 m long, making it the longest railway tunnel in the world for most of the twentieth century, from 1906 until 1982, until the Daishimizu Tunnel opened 76 years later.

Culminating at a height of only 705 m above sea level, the Simplon Tunnel was also the lowest direct Alpine crossing for 110 years, until the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in 2016. The tunnel has a maximum rock overlay of approximately 2,150 m also a world record at the time. Temperatures up to 56 °C (133 °F) have been measured inside the tunnel.3

Work on the first tube of the Simplon Tunnel commenced in 1898.

On 24 February 1905, the two halves of the tunnel came together. They were out of alignment by only 202 mm (8 in) horizontally and 87 mm (3.4 in) vertically. Construction time was 7½ years, rather than 5½ years, due to problems such as water inflows and strikes.

The Italian king Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and the president of the National Council of Switzerland Ludwig Forrer opened the tunnel at Brig on 10 May 1906. The builders of the tunnel were Hermann Häustler and Hugo von Kager. Work on the second tube of the tunnel started in 1912 and it was opened in 1921.

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