Watch | World’s longest and deepest rail tunnel opens in Switzerland

Switzerland on Wednesday inaugurated the Gotthard Railway Tunnel, a major engineering achievement deep under snow-capped peaks.

The thoroughfare aims to cut travel times, ease roadway traffic and draw cargo from pollution-spewing lorries trucking between Europe's north and south.

Once it opens for commercial service in December, the two-way tunnel will take up to 260 freight trains and 65 passenger trains per day. It runs between the German-speaking town of Erstfeld in the north and Italian-speaking Bodio in the south.

Construction was carried out over 17 years at a cost of 12.2 billion Swiss francs (12 billion US dollars).