Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

TL;DR – Everything you need to know, summarised for you daily at 5pm.

1) World’s longest rail tunnel finally ready after almost 70 years

Constructing the 57-kilometre (35-mile) rail tunnel took just over 12 billion Swiss francs ($12 billion, 11 billion euros) and some 2,400 workers, according to Swiss government statistics AFP/Fabrice Coffrini (via channelnewsasia.com
Constructing the 57-kilometre (35-mile) rail tunnel took just over 12 billion Swiss francs ($12 billion, 11 billion euros) and some 2,400 workers, according to Swiss government statistics AFP/Fabrice Coffrini (via channelnewsasia.com)

The world’s longest rail tunnel, set under the Alps and runs from Erstfeld in the central Swiss canton of Uri, to Bodio in southern Ticino canton will open this week. This will shorten the train journey from Zurich to Milan in northern Italy down to two hours and 40 minutes, roughly an hour less than it currently takes and aims to transform travel through the heart of Europe.

2) Singapore’s third bus operator Tower Transit officially starts service

Tower Transit Singapore MD Andrew Bujtor and National Transport Workers' Union's executive secretary Melvin Yong board the first bus leaving Batok Batok Bus Interchange to Clementi Bus Interchange. ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW (via straitstimes.com)
Tower Transit Singapore MD Andrew Bujtor and National Transport Workers’ Union’s executive secretary Melvin Yong board the first bus leaving Batok Batok Bus Interchange to Clementi Bus Interchange. ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW (via straitstimes.com)

Nine bus services were officially launched this morning by Singapore’s third bus operator, Tower Transit.

This comes after the Government switched to a contracting model, where the Land Transport Authority will own existing bus infrastructure, including buses and depots, but parcel bus routes out to various players.

3) China’s richest man opens giant theme park Wanda City, declares war on Disney

 

via bbc.com
via bbc.com

Wanda City in south-eastern city Nanchang was opened yesterday by Wang Jianlin, China’s richest man, according to Forbes magazine. This massive entertainment complex promotes Chinese culture in its attractions and features rides, shopping centres and an aquarium.

According to Wang, “We want to ensure that Disney will not be able to make a profit in this (theme park) sector in China for between 10 and 20 years,” he said.

“A tiger cannot take on a pack of wolves.” 

4) English T-Shirts In Asia

Bored Panda has compiled this list of t-shirts from East Asia that pretty much takes #TranslationFail to the next level.

READ MORE:  5 x 5: Grab now the 2nd biggest tech company in SEA after USD$750m funding

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funny-english-translations-t-shirt-fail-asia-broken-engrish-18-5745a53735e34__605

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(More here)

5) Do good as you travel

Do good as you travel. See how Backstreet Academy, the first peer-to-peer impact travel platform in the world, is moving communities out of poverty through travel.

By AJ