The Lötschberg Tunnel is a 14.612 km long railway tunnel on the Lötschberg Line, which connects Spiez and Brig at the northern end of the Simplon Tunnel cutting through the Bernese Alps of Switzerland. Its ends are at the towns of Kandersteg (2 km away) in the canton of Bern and Goppenstein in the canton of Valais. The top elevation of the tunnel is 1240 m above sea level, this is the highest point of the main Swiss railway network. Construction began in 1907 and suffered delays by several severe accidents. The tunnel is a single bore twin track. The BLS AG company offers a car transport service through the tunnel, between Kandersteg station and Goppenstein station, for accompanied vehicles. The journey time of approximately 20 minutes, passengers remain in their cars in open sided car transport vehicles. At peak times, the car transport service operates in each direction every 7½ minutes. The new Lötschberg Base Tunnel, opened on June 15, 2007, has been constructed some 400 m below the level of the current Lötschberg Tunnel as part of the NRLA (New Railway Link through the Alps) project.