Brenner Railway bypass was completed in 1994 to improve access to the Lower Inn Valley railway. The bypass consists of a 12.75-kilometre tunnel (Austria's longest) and aims to remove the bulk of the freight train traffic from Innsbruck. In Italy, several new sections have been built, removing sections of line with several short tunnels with small cross sections. These include the 13.159-metre long Sciliar tunnel opened in 1994, the 7.267-metre long Pflersch tunnel opened in 1999 and the 3,939-metre long Cardano tunnel opened in 1998. Following a sharp increase in freight traffic through the Brenner Pass (largely on road), the railway is
Fern Pass winter. Today's road is known as the "Fernpass Straße" (B 179). It connects Reutte through the Lermoos tunnel with Tarrenz and Imst. Via B 187 and B 189, it also leads to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany. It also connects the Lech River valley with the Inn River valley. Therefore, it carries more traffic than almost any other pass in the eastern Alps, except the Brenner Pass. The steepest gradient is 8 percent, and the elevation gain from Reutte to the pass is 359 m. On the other side to Telfs, the elevation gain is 579 m. Fern Pass Fern Pass (elevation