"Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker were on hand for the ceremonial breakthrough of the final meter of rock to open the first tunnel beneath the Brenner Pass, a key junction in an EU rail project that will one day run from Helsinki to Palermo. "In the end, there is no project that is too big to be tackled, there is no project too big for us to bet on," Meloni told a ceremony."
"The tunnels and bridge projects mark the first significant upgrade to the Italian rail system since the Rome-Milan high-speed rail line was launched in 2008. It drastically reduced travel time between Italy's financial and political centers, effectively killing the once-lucrative Rome-Milan airline route. The rail line can now be traveled in as little as three hours."
A hydraulic rock drill broke open a tunnel connecting Austria to Italy 1,400 meters beneath the Alps, completing the first meter of the Brenner Base Tunnel. Political leaders attended the ceremonial breakthrough as the tunnel joins a set of major EU rail infrastructure projects spanning from Helsinki to Palermo. The Brenner Base Tunnel will be the world’s longest underground rail tunnel when finished and aims to halve or significantly cut travel times between key cities. The projects include the Straits of Messina Bridge and aim to modernize Italy’s rail network and reduce truck traffic by the early 2030s.
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