Gotthard rail tunnel linking Switzerland and Italy reopens on Monday year after crash

The tunnel was closed in August last year after a broken wheel caused a freight train to derail, causing extensive damage.

Transcript

00:00The Gotthard Base Tunnel, the main rail connection between Switzerland and Italy, reopens on

00:07Monday more than a year after an accident forced its closure.

00:11It happened on August 10 last year when a Swiss Federal Railways freight train derailed

00:16due to a broken wheel.

00:18The derailment caused the train to crash into the gate separating the western and eastern

00:23tunnels causing severe damage.

00:26An investigation after the crash revealed that hairline fractures in a wagon wheel caused

00:30the accident when pieces came away causing the carriage to jump the tracks.

00:35And a clean-up operation was also problematic.

00:57SBB estimated last year that repairing the damage would cost in the region of 135 million

01:05euros, but the company said this week that the final price tag was 159 million.

01:11Taking almost 17 years to complete after decades of planning, the Gotthard Base Tunnel is the

01:16longest railway tunnel in the world, stretching 57 kilometers under the Swiss Alps.

01:22It's an essential link between Switzerland's German and Italian-speaking cantons and costs

01:2810 billion euros to construct.