The New Railway Link through the Alps (NRLA; , , ), is a Swiss construction project for faster north–south rail links across the Swiss Alps. It consists of two axes with several improvements along these rails including three new base tunnels several hundred metres below the existing apex tunnels, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, the Lötschberg Base Tunnel, and the Ceneri Base Tunnel. Swiss Federal Railways subsidiary AlpTransit Gotthard AG and BLS AG subsidiary BLS Alp Transit AG (now BLS Netz AG) were founded for this project and built the tunnels. The total projected cost of the project was CHF 12.189 billion at its 1998 start; in December 2015, its final cost was projected to be CHF 17.900 billion. The 1998 projected total cost of the Gotthard Base Tunnel was CHF 6.323 billion; in December 2015, its final cost was projected to be CHF 9.560 billion. It opened on 1 June 2016, and became operational on 11 December of that year. The Ceneri Base Tunnel was opened on 3 September 2020 and became fully operational in December 2020 and is an important feeder for the Gotthard Base Tunnel. A decision between a full or partial completion of the second tube of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel is expected in 2023. Political background During late-1980s and early-1990s negotiations with the European Economic Community (the predecessor of the EU), Switzerland demanded a limitation on transalpine truck traffic. When the EEC refused, Swiss negotiators instead proposed a heavy-vehicle fee (HVF), a kilometre-based tax on freight vehicles, for all lorries above 3.5 tonnes and offered to build a high-speed rail link through the Alps for intermodal freight transport. Swiss voters approved the rail link in a 27 September 1992 mandatory referendum. The EU accepted the Swiss offer in 2000, but requested that the extant 28-tonne weight limit for lorries be raised to 48 tonnes. The parties eventually compromised on a 40-tonne weight limit. The bilateral Land Transport Agreement with the European Union was signed, agreeing to an increase of the kilometer-based tax (HVF; , , ) on HGVs from 1.6 ct/tkm to 1.8 ct/tkm when the NRLA was completed. The condition was deemed fulfilled at the completion of the first track of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel in 2007. Other relevant Swiss legislation includes the 1994 Alps initiative, which prohibits road-building in the Alps and encourages the transport of as many transalpine goods as possible by rail