The incredible new £8bn tunnel that will end traffic chaos between two countries

The world's longest undergound railway network is currently in the process of being constructed in order to solve traffic issues between two major European countries.

The Brennner Base tunnel is an £8 million mega-project involving the construction of a 34-mile tunnel under one of the largest mountain ranges - the Alps.

The network will connect Fortezza, Italy and Innsbruck, Austria via the Brenner Pass which is at the centre of the Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor.

This major transport route is not only part of the trans-European transport network - a planned network of roads, railways, airports, and water infrastructure in the European Union, but is also the longest route.

It connects major economies including Germany and Italy's, where billions of pounds worth of goods are imported and exported between the two countries.

Some of that trade will eventually take place using the Brenner Pass Tunnel, however while the massive project is still underway, travelling across the area is not so simple.

Currently, a slow railway from the 1860s and the Brenner Pass highway are the only means of getting across the pass, but the road is one of the busiest mountain corridors in Europe, moving around 15 million tons of goods every year, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Therefore, the tunnel is being built to alleviate the high volume of traffic and lower emissions in the area.

On one side of the route, Austria has taken measures to ban transit trucks from travelling at night and transporting goods that work for rail transport. Additionally, there is a limit on the number of trucks that can travel, which is around 200 per hour.

These restrictions received backlash for many reasons, including from the Italian deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, who said, "It infringes on the right to free movement of goods within the EU."

Austria argued that the limits would not solve the traffic issue along the Brenner corridor, which led to the idea to move from the highway to railway, resulting in the construction of this major tunnel.

The tunnel is expected to reduce both the distance and time it takes to travel between Italy and Austria by cutting through the Alps at a speed of approximately 100 miles per hour. It would reduce the route from one hour and 45 minutes to 35 minutes.

Once the tunnel is ready for use, the rail capacity will also increase from 260 trains per day to 660, allowing for more goods to be transported.

The project is set to be completed by 2032.