Key Swiss rail tunnel damaged by derailment will not fully reopen for months

Accident-damaged freight wagons at the scene of the accident in the Gotthard base tunnel near Faido (Urs Flueeler/Keystone via AP)

Switzerland’s national rail operator has said that the world’s longest rail tunnel will not be fully reopened to train traffic until next September, again pushing back the target date for repairs of damage caused by a cargo train derailment.

The Swiss federal railway operator, known by its German-language acronym SBB, said the damage from the derailment on August 10 in the Gotthard tunnel, Switzerland’s main north-south rail thoroughfare, is “much more significant than first imagined”.