Editing Alps (section)

== Passes ==
{{main|Principal passes of the Alps}}
[[File:Andermatt-Teufelsbruecke.jpg|thumb|''[[Teufelsbrücke]]'' (Devil's Bridge) on the route to the [[Gotthard Pass]]; the currently used bridge from 1958 over the first drivable bridge from 1830]]

The Alps have been crossed for war and commerce, and by pilgrims, students, and tourists. Crossing routes by road, train, or foot are known as ''passes'', and usually consist of depressions in the mountains in which a valley leads from the plains and hilly pre-mountainous zones.{{sfn|Coolidge|Lake|Knox|1911|p=740}} Merchant traffic was supported by [[pack animal]]s such as mules. In the late Middle Ages heavy carts and [[sleigh]]s were in use on the alpine passes.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Alps: An Environmental History |author1=Jon Mathieu |date=2019 |publisher=Polity Press |isbn=9781509527748}}</ref>

In the medieval period [[hospices]] were established by religious orders at the summits of many of the main passes.<ref name="Fleming 4" /> The most important passes are the [[Col de l'Iseran]] (the highest), the [[Col Agnel]], the [[Brenner Pass]], the [[Mont-Cenis]], the [[Great St. Bernard Pass]], the [[Col de Tende]], the [[Gotthard Pass]], the [[Semmering Pass]], the [[Simplon Pass]], and the [[Stelvio Pass]].<ref name="Britannica">''Encyclopædia Britannica''. ''Encyclopedia Online Academic Edition''. Encyclopædia Britannica; retrieved 6 August 2012.</ref>

Crossing the Italian-Austrian border, the Brenner Pass separates the [[Ötztal Alps]] and [[Zillertal Alps]] and has been in use as a trading route since the 14th century. The lowest of the Alpine passes at {{cvt|985|m|0}} is the Semmering crossing from [[Lower Austria]] to [[Styria]]. It has been in continuous use since the 12th century when a hospice was built there. A railroad with a tunnel {{cvt|1|mi|order=flip}} long was built along the route of the pass in the mid-19th century. With a summit of {{cvt|2469|m|0}}, the Great St Bernard Pass is one of the highest in the Alps, crossing the Italian-Swiss border east of the Pennine Alps along the flanks of Mont Blanc. The pass was used by [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] to cross 40,000 troops in 1800.<ref name="switz">{{cite web |url=http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/valais/grandstbernardhistory.html |title=History of the Great St Bernard pass |access-date=8 August 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121208215024/http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/valais/grandstbernardhistory.html |archive-date=8 December 2012}}</ref>

{{wide image|Versant sud val cenis.jpg|750px|caption=The col du Mont-Cenis ({{cvt|2081|m}}) at the centre left of the picture gives access to a large alpine lake, and further away to the Italian peninsula {{cvt|12|km}} beyond the pass.}}

The [[Mont Cenis]] pass has been a major commercial and military road between Western Europe and Italy. The pass was crossed by many troops on their way to the Italian peninsula. From [[Constantine I (emperor)|Constantine I]], [[Pepin the Short]] and [[Charlemagne]] to [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]], Napoléon and more recently the German [[Gebirgsjäger]]s during [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Thiers |first=Frédéric |title=Ronce, le gardien silencieux du col du Mont-Cenis |url=https://www.ledauphine.com/savoie/2016/08/09/les-forts-de-maurienne-en-topo-guide |work=[[Le Dauphiné libéré]] |date=August 10, 2016 |access-date=November 28, 2021 |archive-date=November 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128121141/https://www.ledauphine.com/savoie/2016/08/09/les-forts-de-maurienne-en-topo-guide |url-status=live }}</ref> 

In the 18th century the principal passes of the Alps were modernized by engineers to speed up passenger and freight transport.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Alps: An Environmental History |author1=Jon Mathieu |date=2019 |publisher=Polity Press |isbn=9781509527748}}</ref> The Mont Cenis pass has been supplanted by the [[Fréjus Rail Tunnel]] opening in 1871, while the [[Fréjus Road Tunnel]] opened 1980.<ref>{{cite book |title=Italian Railways |first=P. M. |last=Kalla-Bishop |year=1971 |publisher=David & Charles |isbn=0-7153-5168-0 |pages=41–42}}</ref> Railway lines could not be built in the Alps without tunnels and bridges. Apart from the Mont Cenis railway tunnel the [[Semmering_railway|Semmering railway tunnel]] and the [[Gotthard railway tunnel]] were built between 1854 and 1882. By the early 19th century eight trans-alpine railway lines had been put into operation.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Alps: An Environmental History |author1=Jon Mathieu |date=2019 |publisher=Polity Press |isbn=9781509527748}}</ref>

The Saint Gotthard Pass crosses from [[Central Switzerland]] to [[Ticino]]. In 1882 the {{convert|15|km|mi|abbr=on|adj=mid|-long}} [[Gotthard Tunnel|Saint Gotthard Railway Tunnel]] was opened connecting [[Lucerne]] in Switzerland, with [[Milan]] in Italy. 98 years later followed [[Gotthard Road Tunnel]] ({{cvt|16.9|km}} long) connecting the [[A2 motorway (Switzerland)|A2 motorway]] in [[Göschenen]] on the north side with [[Airolo]] on the south side, exactly like the railway tunnel.

On 1 June 2016 the world's longest railway tunnel, the [[Gotthard Base Tunnel]], was opened, which connects [[Erstfeld]] in [[canton of Uri]] with [[Bodio]] in [[canton of Ticino]] by two single tubes of {{cvt|57.1|km}}.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/wissen/technik/wer-hat-die-groesste-roehre/story/14922381 |title=Wer hat die grösste Röhre? |trans-title=Who has the longest tube? |type=graphical animation |newspaper=[[Tages-Anzeiger]] |location=Zurich |date=April 14, 2016 |language=de |access-date=11 May 2016 |archive-date=April 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429131605/http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/wissen/technik/Wer-hat-die-groesste-Roehre/story/14922381 |url-status=live }}</ref>

It is the first tunnel that traverses the Alps on a flat route.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/wissen/natur/was-die-tunnelbauer-im-gotthard-antrafen/story/11796993 |title=Was die Tunnelbauer im Gotthard antrafen |type=graphical animation |newspaper=[[Tages-Anzeiger]] |location=Zurich |date=1 April 2016 |language=de |access-date=11 May 2016 |archive-date=May 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511163138/http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/wissen/natur/was-die-tunnelbauer-im-gotthard-antrafen/story/11796993? |url-status=live }}</ref>

From 11 December 2016, it has been part of the regular railway timetable and used hourly as standard ride between [[Basel]]/[[Lucerne]]/[[Zurich]] and [[Bellinzona]]/[[Lugano]]/[[Milan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/en/welcome.html |title=Official Timetable |publisher=Swiss Federal Office for Transport |location=Bern |language=en, de, fr, it, rm |access-date=May 11, 2016 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627184607/https://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/en/welcome.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The highest pass in the alps is the [[Col de l'Iseran]] in [[Savoy]] (France) at {{cvt|2770|m|0}}, followed by the Stelvio Pass in northern Italy at {{cvt|2756|m|0}}; the road was built in the 1820s.<ref name="Britannica" />