VIENNA : Workers have broken through a key section of the Brenner Base Tunnel, bringing Europe’s longest rail tunnel a step closer to completion, officials said on Friday.

The 55-kilometre tunnel will run beneath the Alps between Fortezza in northern Italy and Innsbruck in Austria. Once finished, it will cut passenger travel time on the route from around 80 minutes to 25 minutes. Together with the Innsbruck bypass, it will form a 64-km underground stretch, overtaking Switzerland’s Gotthard Base Tunnel as the longest in Europe.

The project is aimed at easing pressure on the Brenner Pass, one of Europe’s busiest trade routes. More than 2.5 million trucks and 14 million vehicles travel through the corridor each year, carrying about 50 million tonnes of goods. Officials say moving much of that traffic onto rail will reduce congestion, emissions and noise in the Alpine region.

Work on the tunnel began in the 1990s and has faced delays and rising costs. It is now expected to open in 2032. Governments in Italy and Austria hailed the breakthrough as a major milestone for Europe’s transport network and its efforts to cut carbon emissions.

Analysts caution, however, that the tunnel’s full benefits will only be realised once Germany completes its connecting rail lines north of Innsbruck.