The Brenner Base Tunnel - a new link through the Alps

3 The route over the Brenner Pass has always been one of the most important links between northern and south- ern Europe. The Brenner Pass lies 1,371 m above sea level; it is the lowest Alpine pass and can be used all year round. In the early Bronze Age, around 1,700 CE, this mountain pass was an important commercial link between the North Sea and the Mediterranean area. In the 14th century, 3,000 tons of freight including spices, wine, sugar, oil and cotton were transported over the Brenner Pass every year. The Brenner Pass has always been an important point of passage over the Alps. The flow of freight over the Brenner increased constantly, so that at the beginning of the 19th century this led swiftly to capacity bottlenecks and the decision to build a railway over the Brenner. The present-day Brenner railway was built between 1860 and 1867. From beasts of burden to the most modern methods of transportation The construction of the Brenner rail – seen here, the northern ramp at Patsch, around the year 1900 – was a masterful feat of technical engineering when it was opened in 1867. Source: Collection Verkehrsarchiv Tirol The Brenner Pass - an important transit route over the Alps