Workers will begin drilling and blasting open the first tunnel connecting Austria to Italy under the Brenner Pass through the Alps on Thursday, marking a major milestone in a series of ambitious European Union projects that will accelerate passenger train travel between metropolitan centers and shift freight off the roads and onto rails.
The Brenner Base Tunnel, which is being billed as the longest underground rail tunnel in the world when completed, is among four key infrastructure projects that promise to reshape how Italians travel and ship goods by the early 2030s.
