These trains have just passed - they're travelling in opposite directions, but both coming towards me. There's a loop in a tunnel through the hill in the background; and another below me to the back. Trains travelling through the Gotthard valley need this engineering to obtain the height to minimise the tunnelling further up the valley. In the next few years, however, the new Gotthard tunnel will open, with a route length of 57 km (35.4 mi). The future of the current Gotthard route is still open for discussion.