Measuring 57 km long and located in Switzerland's historic heartland, the Gotthard Base Tunnel officially opened on Wednesday after 17 years of work to bring the engineering feat to completion.

With rock cover up to 2,300 meters in depth, the base tunnel is not only the deepest but also the longest and most expensive railway tunnel in the world, having cost CHF 12.2 billion (12.35 billion U.S. dollars) to bring the game-changing endeavor to life.

Upon completion of the entire Gotthard axis in 2020, the project will not only cut by 45 minutes the time it takes to travel from Zurich to Lugano but will also greatly improve the transport of goods in the region.

This is particularly important as Switzerland is located on one of Europe's main freight transport axes, with some 26 million tonnes of merchandise passing through the Swiss Alps every year by rail.

In light of this and following efficiency norms and environmental imperatives, the Gotthard Base Tunnel serves as a viable alternative to transalpine road transport for both passengers and goods.

Around 20 million people in the catchments area between southern Germany and northern Italy are expected to benefit from the 65 passenger trains scheduled to use the tunnel every day.

Thanks to the level route of the tunnel enabling greater cruising speeds, passenger transport will become faster as well as more reliable and punctual.

As many as 260 freight trains will be able to cross the tunnel on a daily basis, compared to only 180 on the historic mountain route which was built in the 19th century.

Together with Swiss ministers and officials, leaders from Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Liechtenstein and the European commissioner for Transport attended the opening ceremony.