Brig, Switzerland in the context of "Simplon Tunnel"

The Lepontine Alps (German: Lepontinische Alpen, French: Alpes lépontines, Italian: Alpi Lepontine) are a mountain range in the north-western part of the Alps. They are located in Switzerland (Valais, Ticino, Uri and Graubünden) and Italy (Piedmont and Lombardy).

The Simplon rail tunnel (from Brig to Domodossola), the Gotthard rail (from Erstfeld to Bodio) and Gotthard road tunnels (from Andermatt to Airolo) and the San Bernardino road tunnel are important transport arteries.

The Furka Oberalp Railway (German: Furka Oberalp Bahn) is a narrow gauge mountain railway in Switzerland with a gauge of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in). It runs in the Graubünden, Uri and Canton of Valais. Since January 1, 2003, it is part of the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn when it merged with the BVZ Zermatt-Bahn.

The line begins in Disentis in the canton of Graubünden, where there is a connection to the Rhätische Bahn (RhB). It then runs over the Oberalp Pass to Andermatt in the canton of Uri. Through the Furka Base Tunnel it reaches the Goms District area and Brig in the canton of Valais. In Brig, it connects to the BVZ Zermattbahn since 1930.

The Lötschberg is an Alpine mountain massif, usually associated with a major, historically important transit axis of the Alps in Switzerland with, at its core, the Lötschen Pass (German: Lötschenpass, Swiss German: Lötschepass). The mountain pass, which culminates at nearly 2,700 metres above sea level, are part of the eastern Bernese Alps, whose main crest straddles the border between the cantons of Bern and Valais. The valleys concerned by the Lötschberg are those of the Kander in the Berner Oberland, with Kandersteg at the head of it, and a secluded side-valley of the Upper Valais, the Lötschental, with Ferden at the valley's entrance and at the bottom of the pass.

Although the Lötschberg is one of the main north-south axes through the Alps, it is not on the main chain of the Alps, the Pennine Alps, further south, making up the main water divide. As a main north-south axis through the Alps, the Lötschberg is thus completed by the Simplon, between Brig and Domodossola in Italy. The Lötschberg alone constitutes an important shortcut from the Swiss Plateau to the Upper Valais, the alternative route involving a long detour via the lower Rhone Valley (Monthey) around the western end of the Bernese Alps.