Breakthrough
 

Lights at the end of the tunnel, and a drilling machine in the middle.

http://www.spiegel.de/images/image-1...eryV9-btsu.jpg

The Swiss dig a hole...
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...723407,00.html

...and took pictures of it:
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fo...cke-60566.html

It now is the longest "hole" in the world. :D

I'm always amazed at how they can dig two tunnels thousands of feet from opposite directions and end up joining right were they are supposed to.

Not so long ago they couldent even accomplish this task with roads.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_Mile_Bend,_Florida

I heard that the Channel Tunnel missed on its first attempt...haven't found anything solid to back that rumour up though.

Amazing work though, but the Swiss are quite good at engineering on the quiet, and even better at defence works...

I understand they also trained some very effective pikemen at some point in history. :DL

They still do, who do you think guards the Emperor?
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4...issguard33.jpg

I love it when they brake trough. Too bad I'm never invited to such events :cry:

I must admit, when I saw the title of the thread and the thread creator, I was expecting a different kind of breakthrough:

http://www.army-technology.com/proje...ges/leop19.jpg

I was dissapointed to find that the breakthrough was not the Panzerabteilungs planed vacation in southern France. We all know they are due.

The Swiss have always been good at tunnelling.

It's all that practice they've had building thousands of nuclear air raid shelters :hmmm:

So what in blue blazes is the purpose of this tunnel? It's losing money and not likely to have any real effects on transportation of freight. Seems like it was a waste of time and effort.

BUT!

Lets not that get in the way of patting yourselves on the back. As "tunnel workers in Switzerland, however, were in no mood to contemplate such realities after the last layer of rock gave way to the advancing drill."

Reminds me of Tarjaks signature "there's nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all" - Peter Drucker

BIG WHOOP so some euro dug a hole in the ground.

Well I wouldent expect it to make too much money right now since it is not open yet. :haha:

As to why? Its a shortcut under the montains I believe.

Yeah, I was thinking exactly the same.

...and wondering how they did it. :hmmm:

Satellite precision I'm reckoning.

Actually, simoultaneous "double tunel" digging is an ancient art!
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_of_Eupalinos

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