The Hauenstein base tunnel was opened in January 1916. In the middle of World War I. The story of a trailblazing feat of engineering, achieved in tumultuous times.

In 1853 efforts got under way to ‘break the stone’ that stood between the cantons of Basel-Landschaft and Solothurn. Five years later the Hauenstein, Switzerland’s first real railway tunnel, was opened.

In summer 1955, Switzerland’s first motorway was opened in Lucerne. It was the first piece of the puzzle of what is now the national road network, today covering around 2,254 kilometres.

While there have been huge strides forward in exploring the universe, most of the underwater world is still a dark, closed book. The Piccard family has done significant pioneering work in exploring the bodies of water on our planet. The Mésoscaphe submarine descended into the depths of Lake Geneva and was deployed in the world’s oceans. This icon of engineering skill was one of the star attractions at the 1964 National Exhibition in Lausanne.

An elevator to the 3,700-metre summit of the Wetterhorn. At the beginning of the 20th century, this was one engineer’s dream. His dream did eventually come true, even if not in its entirety: in 1908 Switzerland welcomed its first aerial cableway for passenger transport.

In 1961, SBB brought the electric Trans-Europe Express train into operation. The TEE is still regarded as a symbol of luxury travel and technological advancement.

Today, pedestrians almost always have right of way. That hasn’t always been the case. Since the first zebra crossing was installed in Basel in 1948, however, pedestrian road use has become a lot safer.

In Switzerland, as elsewhere, climate change is forcing a rapid switch to renewable energies. The trend is called ‘electric’ and its advent harks back to the age of electrification, which in Switzerland occurred very early on, at the end of 19th century. Are there parallels to that era? Are we currently experiencing Electrification 2.0?