Today In History; World's Longest Railroad Tunnel Opens

1906: The Simplon Tunnel, the world’s longest railroad tunnel, winds through twelve miles of the Alps between Italy and Switzerland and boasts 64,927 feet of rail. The tunnel was cut through the solid rock of the Simplon Mountains, shortening the European trade route between Italy and Switzerland. The engineer who invented an efficient rock drill, Alfred Brandt, spearheaded the tunnel’s construction, which began in the 1890s. The president of the Swiss Republic and the King of Italy opened the Simplon Tunnel on this day in 1906.