What is "alptransit"

AlpTransit, also known as New Railway Link through the Alps, NRLA (, , ), is Switzerland's largest-ever construction project for faster north-south rail links across the Swiss Alps by constructing a series of "base tunnels" several hundred metres below the current tunnels. For safety, all the tunnels have two parallel single-track bores joined about every 300 metres with cross cuts, enabling the other tunnel to be used for escape. The $13 billion project consists of two major sections, the Gotthard axis and the Lötschberg axis, including the Gotthard Base Tunnel and the Lötschberg Base Tunnel, respectively. The centrepiece, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, is scheduled to become operational at the end of 2016, and the Ceneri Base Tunnel four years later in 2020.