01/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - World's longest railway tunnel inaugurated in Switzerland. The Gothard Base Tunnel inauguration ceremony on Wednesday 1 June was attended by the Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, the President of France, François Hollande, Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, as well as representatives from the Swiss authorities. Known as "the tunnel of the century", this railway tunnel, with its 57 km underground, is the longest in the world and is said to have cost a total of €11.1 billion. It aims to facilitate transport between northern and southern Europe and help decarbonisation by promoting modal transport. The EU has not directly contributed financially to the tunnel but has done in regard to related cross-border projects such as the Brenner pass tunnel between Austria and Italy as part of the Connecting Europe Mechanism Facility (CEF), to the tune of €1.2 billion and the connection between Lyon and Turin (€800 million). On Tuesday, the Commissioner met French, German, Austrian and Swiss transport ministers to discuss the Zürich follow-up process (see EUROPE 11562). (PH)