The longest tunnel under the river. The world's longest tunnel has opened in Switzerland. Severomuysky tunnel. Russia
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The relief of the earth's surface is not perfectly flat, but is almost always complex, so when laying roads it is almost impossible to do without tunnels. The prototypes of tunnels in ancient times were mines; with the help of this military stratagem one could sneak behind the enemy's back unnoticed and fall on his shoulders. Today's tunnels, for the most part, serve completely different purposes. There are a variety of tunnels, differing in length, location and structure. What is currently the longest tunnel in the world?
10. Laerdal Tunnel, Norway (24,510 m)
In this case, we are talking about a road tunnel that shortens the route from the municipality of Laerdal to another municipality of Aurland (both in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Western Norway). The tunnel is part of the European highway E16, connecting Oslo with Bergen. Construction of this tunnel began in 1995 and was completed in 2000. At that time, it became the longest road tunnel in the world, surpassing the famous Gotthard road tunnel by as much as 8 km. Above the tunnel there are mountains with an average height of about 1600 meters.
The Lärdal Tunnel has a unique feature - three large-volume artificial grottoes were chosen in it at the same distance from each other. These grottoes divide the tunnel itself into 4 approximately equal sections. This is not a whim of the architects, but the purpose of the grottoes is to relieve fatigue from drivers driving for a long time in completely monotonous tunnel conditions, and here they can stop and rest.
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9. Iwate-Ichinohe, Japan (25,810 m)
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The Japanese tunnel connecting the capital with the city of Aomori, at the time of its opening in 2002, it was the longest Japanese railway tunnel until it was overtaken by the Lötschberg tunnel. This tunnel is located 545 kilometers from Tokyo, halfway between Hachinohe and Morioka, and the Chohoku express trains run through it. We started thinking about its construction in 1988, and started it in 1991. The structure was ready for operation in 2000, but the line began operating only in 2002. The tunnel goes down a maximum of 200 meters.
8. Hakkoda, Japan (26,455 m)
The Hakkoda railway tunnel is only a little longer than the previous one. He was a kind of pioneer - before him, there were no long tunnels in the world through which trains could simultaneously move in different directions.
7. Taihangshan, China (27,848 m)
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In 2007, a new Taihangshan tunnel was put into operation in China, passing through the thickness of the mountain range of the same name. Before the construction of the New Guan Jiao, it was the longest Chinese tunnel. It became an element of the high-speed railway that connected the capital of the eastern province of Hebei, Shijiach-Zhuang, with the capital of the adjacent Shanxi province from the west, the city of Taiyuan. If previously it took 6 hours to get from one city to another, now an hour is enough.
6. Guadarrama, Spain (28,377 m)
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In the same 2007, but in Spain, the longest tunnel in the country, Guadarrama, was opened, which connected the capital of the country, Madrid, with Valladolid. It began construction in 2002, so it is obvious that this was done at a fairly fast pace. This is a rather complex technical structure, which also contains two separate tunnels. Thanks to this, trains run along it simultaneously in different directions. It is especially worth noting that high-speed trains of the AVE system are used here. After the launch of the tunnel, it became possible to get from one city to another in just a few minutes. This was especially liked by tourists, who began to visit Valladolid from the capital more often.
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5. New Guan Jiao, China (32,645 m)
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This is China's longest railway tunnel. At the same time, being located, as befits an underground tunnel, it is located at a very decent height above sea level (from 3324 meters to 3381 meters). And all because it is part of the second line of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, laid in the Guan Jiao Mountains of the Chinese province of Qinghai. In fact, there are two separate one-way tunnels here. This tunnel took 7 years to build, and it was put into operation at the very end of 2014. Trains are capable of rushing through these tunnels at a speed of 160 km/h.
4. Lötschberg, Switzerland (34,577 m)
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The Lötschberg railway tunnel is located on the line of the same name passing through the Alps, and it is located 400 meters deeper than the Lötschberg road tunnel. Passenger and freight trains travel through this one of the world's longest land tunnels. It passes under cities such as Bern, Frutigen, Valais and Raron. This is a fairly new tunnel, because it was completed only in 2006, and already in June of the following year it was officially opened. The most modern drilling technologies were used during its excavation, so it was possible to break through it in less than two years. Now over 20 thousand Swiss people use it every week, trying to quickly get to the thermal resorts in Valais.
The arrival of Lötschberg significantly reduced traffic congestion in the area, since previously trucks and trucks had to bypass Switzerland, making a large circle just from Valais to Bern. It is curious that in the tunnel there is a source of hot underground water, which the Swiss also do not waste, but use it to heat the greenhouse, where tropical fruits grow thanks to this.
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3. Eurotunnel, France/UK (50,450 m)
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This Channel Tunnel is a double-track railway tunnel that runs 39 kilometers under the English Channel. Thanks to him, the island of Great Britain was connected to the continent by rail. Since then, it has become possible to board a train in Paris and be in London in two and a quarter hours. The train stays in the tunnel itself for 20-35 minutes.
The grand opening of the tunnel took place on May 6, 1994. It was attended by the leaders of two countries - French President Francois Mitterrand and Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. The Eurotunnel holds the record for underwater tunnels and is also the longest international tunnel. Its work is managed by the Eurostar company. The American Society of Civil Engineers was full of compliments and even compared the Eurotunnel to one of the seven modern wonders of the world.
2. Seikan, Japan (53,850 m)
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This incredibly long Japanese railway tunnel also has an underwater section that is 23.3 kilometers long. It goes 240 meters underground, resulting in 100 meters below the seabed. The tunnel passes under the Sangar Strait and connects Aomori Prefecture (Honshu Island) and the island of Hokkaido. It is part of the Kaikyo and Hokkaido Shinkansen of the local railway company.
In length it is second only to the Gotthard Tunnel, and in terms of its location under the seabed it is the leader in the world. The name of the tunnel contains the first hieroglyphs of the names of the cities that it connects - Amori and Hakodate, they are just pronounced differently in Japanese. The Seikan Tunnel became the second underwater railway tunnel after the Kammon Tunnel in Japan, and it connects the islands of Kyushu and Honshu under the Kammon Strait.
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1. Gotthard Tunnel, Switzerland (57,091 m)
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This railway tunnel, dug in the Swiss Alps, when adding its own length with the length of pedestrian and service passages, will stretch for 153.4 kilometers. At the northern end it exits near the village of Erstfeld, and the southern exit is located near the village of Bodio. The eastern part was completed in October 2010, and the western part in March 2011, after which it became the longest railway tunnel in the world.
Thanks to its construction, trans-Alpine rail transport became possible, and north-west Italy was able to switch from more polluting road transport to cleaner and cheaper rail transport. Travel time from Zurich to Milan has been reduced by almost an hour. The tunnel was opened in June 2016. The company that controlled its construction, Alp Transit Gotthard, handed it over to the Swiss Federal Railways in fully operational condition in December of the same year, and on December 11 its commercial operation began.
Humanity can boast of great achievements. One of them is tunnels. These are truly true architectural wonders. Their development and improvement has occurred and will always occur.
Who and when invented the tunnels is unknown. It is believed that such structures originate from caves, which people in ancient times used as homes.
The modern role of buildings has changed somewhat. In the civilized period, tunnels are used as secret passages, underground planes. They were often used for shelter from enemies.
In modern times, the role of tunnels has changed significantly. It is now a prime environment for high-speed travel. The structure of structures has a standard design in different countries. But the length and arrangement of such tunnels can differ significantly.
1. Gotthard Base Tunnel
Its length is 57.00 km. It is often called the Gotthard Base Tunnel. Used as the main railway structure in Switzerland. Its length is the maximum in the whole world.
If you include all passages (pedestrian and service), its length will be about 152 km. The southern end of the structure is located near the village of Bodio, the northern end is located near the village of Erstfed. The structure was originally created for railway needs. With the help of such a tunnel it was possible to create a communication through the Alps.
At the moment, this message is closed - the opening of the structure is planned for the end of 2017. In general, the construction of the tunnel through the Alps lasted for 14 years.
2. Seikan
The length of the structure is almost 54 meters (53.9 meters). The longest underwater tunnel in the world. Built to connect the two Japanese islands of Hokkaido and Honshu.
Translated, its name means “Majestic spectacle” and this is true. The structure has an underwater part (about 23.3 km), since the tunnel runs under the Sangay Strait.
3. Eurotunnel, 49.94 km long
The structure is laid under the English Channel. Connects Folkestone (Kent from the UK) and Calais (part of France).
The tunnel is not the longest in the world, but it has the longest underwater part (as much as 39 km, which is 14.7 km more than Seikan). The tunnel officially opened in 1994. Since then, it has been working flawlessly every day, ferrying millions of people across the channel.
4. Lechberg, 34.70 km long
Representative of the longest land tunnel. Located on the Bern-Milan line, in Switzerland. The design was created in the middle of the 20th century. It managed to connect the area of Bern and Interlaken with the area of Brig and Zermatt.
5. Guadaram tunnel, 28.37 km long
Takes 5th place in the ranking. This is a Spanish railway project that was created in the early 2000s. Its official opening took place in December 2007.
Since that time, people have had a unique opportunity to travel from Madrid to Valladolid and back without any problems. Received the title of the longest and most sought-after device in all of Spain.
6. Iwate-Ichinohe Tunnel, the duration of which is 25.81 km.
This is an example of an underground railway structure in Japan. It connects two distant cities - Tokyo and Aomori. The opening of the structure took place in 2002. The tunnel received the title of the longest underground railway structure in the world.
7. Hakkoda, 26.5 km long
It is one of the longest standing land structures in Japan. The length of its railway section is almost 27 km.
8. Laerdal tunnel
The length of this structure is about 24.5 km. It is rightly called the longest automobile tunnel. Built in 5 years, opened in 2000. It connects two remote municipalities - Laerdal and Aurland, which are located in Norway.
The tunnel is part of the European Highway between Oslo and Bergen. The mountains through which the structure passes can sometimes reach 1600 meters and higher.
The peculiarity of the design is the presence of 3 large artificial caves (grottoes). They are located approximately at an equal distance from each other. Thus, the entire tunnel is divided into 4 approximately equal sections. This was done on purpose. In this way, it was possible to minimize driver stress.
It has been proven that prolonged driving in monotonous conditions greatly tires the driver. It is also convenient to turn around and stop for a rest in such grottoes.
Special designer lighting of the grottoes and a special route design make the trip through the tunnel more exciting. The duration of movement around the structure is no more than 20 minutes.
9. Daishimizu Tunnel, length 22.20 km
Japanese tunnel created for the railway connection between Niigata and Tokyo. All construction work was completed in 1978. It went down in history not only as the longest, but also the most tragic tunnel. The fact is that during its construction there was a huge fire in the building.
As a result, 16 workers died.
Thanks to the opening of the structure, the time spent on travel was reduced by approximately an hour and a half. In addition, the construction of the tunnel made it possible to find a spring of drinking water. Thanks to this, the production of natural drinking water began near the tunnel.
10. Wushaoling Tunnel, length - 21.05 km
A one-of-a-kind double railway tunnel that was opened in 2006. Located in northwest China. Created to connect the two ends of Gansu Province.
The design made it possible to reduce the distance between Dakaigou and Longgou by 30.5 km. Received the title of the longest railway structure in all of China. Capable of accepting trains at speeds of 160 km/h. The maximum depth of the structure is 1100 m.
Humanity plans to build the longest, most comfortable tunnel of the future. We are talking about the Japan-Korea tunnel. Its length is expected to be about 187 km. The design should connect Japan and the southern part of Korea. Negotiations on the start of construction work have already begun, but are taking a long time.
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A railway tunnel in Japan is 53.85 km long with an underwater fragment 23.3 km long. The tunnel descends to a depth of about 240 meters, 100 meters below the seabed. It lies under the Sangar Strait, connecting Aomori Prefecture on the Japanese island of Honshu and the island of Hokkaido - as part of the Kaikyo and Hokkaido Shinkansen line of the Hokkaido Railway Company. It is the deepest seabed and second longest railway tunnel in the world.
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The railway tunnel in Switzerland is 57.1 km long (including service and pedestrian passages - 153.4 km). The northern portal of the tunnel is located near the village of Erstfeld, and the southern portal is located near the village of Bodio. After the completion of the eastern part (October 15, 2010) and the western part (March 23, 2011), it became the longest railway tunnel in the world.
8 Beijing Subway: Line 10
The high-speed rail transport system of Beijing, the capital of China, has been in operation since 1969 and has been rapidly developing since the end of the 20th century. It ranks second among metro systems in the world in terms of line length and annual passenger flow, as well as second place in peak daily passenger flow after the Moscow Metro.
7 Guangzhou Metropolitan: Line 3
The decision to build a metro in Guangzhou was made in 1989. Construction began in 1993. The first line was put into operation on June 28, 1997. In 2002, the second line was opened, in 2005 - the third and fourth. On December 28, 2013, metro line 6 was opened.
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It was built in 1987 in Sweden. The cross section of the tunnel is 8 m2.
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Within a large water management system. of the Orange River project, in the middle reaches of the river, the Hendrik-Verwoerd and Le Roux dams and reservoirs were built, designed to regulate the river flow, irrigate agricultural lands, industrial water supply, and for hydropower purposes. Part of the flow from the Hendrik-Verwoerd reservoir is transferred through a tunnel through the mountain range to the south of South Africa.
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One of the longest tunnels is located in Liaoning province. China has previously taken part in the implementation of large-scale road projects. For example, the Danyang-Kunshan Great Bridge is the longest bridge in the world.
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Päijänne water pipeline- a conduit tunnel located in the south of Finland. Its length is 120 km, depth from 30 to 100 m from the surface. The purpose of constructing the water pipeline is to supply water to the capital agglomeration of Finland, in whose cities (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and others) more than a million people live.
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Many of us have the luxury of instant access to clean water, but few people think about the miracles of technology that allow us to pour ourselves a glass of water. New York is one of those cities that lacks fresh water sources. As the population grew, aqueducts began to appear. In 1945, the Delaware Aqueduct appeared. Today it supplies the population of the metropolis with water by 50 percent. It is the second longest continuous tunnel in the world with a length of 137 kilometers. It was created by drilling and blasting hard rocks. The aqueduct works incredibly efficiently - 95 percent of the total volume of water is supplied independently.
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The longest tunnel in the world- Thirlmere aqueduct. Its length is 154,000 meters, construction began in 1890 and ended in 1925. Formally, it is not the longest tunnel in the world, since it is not a continuous tunnel, but it is generally accepted to consider it the longest tunnel in the world. The aqueduct was built to carry water from the Manchester reservoir, and about 250 thousand cubic meters of water passes through it every day.
Mankind began to build the first structures resembling today's tunnels back in the Stone Age and over the past years has achieved certain successes in this matter. We have selected the most remarkable ones that currently exist: get acquainted.
The first known underwater tunnel was built in ancient Babylon under the Euphrates more than two thousand years before the birth of Christ. Technologies have changed since then, but the essence has not: tunnels are still the most convenient way to separate traffic flows vertically and overcome various natural and man-made obstacles when moving people and goods. But not only them.
The longest in the world: Delaware Aqueduct (New York State, USA)
The honorary title of the longest operating tunnel in the world today is held by a structure not intended for the movement of people and goods. It supplies New York City with about 4.9 million cubic meters of fresh water daily from the Rondout Reservoir in the Catskill Mountains, that is, about half of what a metropolis of 20 million uses over the same period. The length of the tunnel is 137 kilometers with a diameter of 4.1 meters, and it runs at a depth of up to 300 m. It was built at a not very favorable time for the United States and the entire Northern Hemisphere: work started in 1939 and ended only in 1944.
Pumping stations are used to pump water underground and through rivers. Those located in New York, like this one, look stylish, somewhat reminiscent of Palladian villas
Delaware Aqueduct (Delaware Aqueduct) Although it has been supplying the largest US city with water for seven decades, it is nevertheless not problematic: it leaks. As a result of leaks, at least 140 thousand cubic meters are lost into the soil. m daily, which would be enough to provide clean drinking water to about half a million people. And it would be nice if the water just went into the ground! No, it floods buildings and fields and harms nature. To solve the problem, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection is constructing a parallel tunnel to replace the worst-damaged section of the aqueduct. The cost of work to eliminate leaks is approaching one and a half billion dollars.
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Universal tunnel SMART (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) One of the options for using tunnels is to combat flooding by draining water. In the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, they decided to build a universal two-level tunnel SMART (Stormwater Management And Road Tunnel), through which both vehicles and water can flow during heavy rains.
Normally, the tunnel operates like a car tunnel and is used to bypass the city center (along the upper level). During heavy rains, water from the city storm drain is discharged to the lower level. And if there is a very serious threat of flooding, the tunnel is closed to car traffic and both levels are used for drainage. When the danger passes, the vehicle part can be returned to service within 48 hours. Only since the beginning of 2007, when it was opened SMART, until the summer of 2010, the tunnel saved the center of Kuala Lumpur from seven severe floods. |
Longest railway: Gotthard Base Tunnel (Switzerland)
Opening ceremony of the Gotthard Base Tunnel (Gotthard-Basistunnel) took place in Switzerland on June 1, 2016. Thus ended almost a quarter-century (the first construction work began in 1993) history of the construction of not only the longest (57 km from portal to portal), but also the deepest (up to 2450 meters of rock rises above the tunnel) railway tunnel in the world. And it cannot be said that the Gotthard Pass, which, roughly speaking, separates Italy from Germany, could not be overcome in any other way: apart from the picturesque winding path through the pass on the surface, before the opening of the GBT it was possible to use the old railway tunnel (built in 1882) or the road (1980), however, to get to them, both trains and motorists had to overcome many kilometers of dangerous mountain roads with dozens of sharp turns, which greatly complicated the task.
The northern portal of the Gotthard Base Tunnel is located near the town of Erstfeld at an altitude of 460 m above sea level. In this photo you can see that, in fact, we are talking about two parallel electrified tunnels with a diameter of 8.83–9.58 m. By the way, the tunnel is called the base one because it is laid at the base of the mountain range whose name it bears
Now it is possible to get from Zurich to Milan in just 2 hours 50 minutes instead of the previous 3 hours 40 minutes, and on a high-speed train traveling through the tunnel at a speed of up to 250 km/h (during testing, ICE trains even accelerated to 275 km/h) . In total, there are about 65 such trains per day - they carry about 10 thousand passengers per day, and the increase in traffic was 30% in the first 8 months of operation of the tunnel. But freight traffic is still more important - up to 260 freight trains can be carried through the tunnel per day. It was precisely for the sake of transferring cargo transportation from road to rail transport that everything was started. Construction cost approximately 10 billion Swiss francs and nine lives - that's how many of the 3,500 people who built the tunnel died during construction.
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Natural Tunnel (Virginia, USA) To lay railway tracks or a highway in the thickness of the earth, humanity does not necessarily have to chisel away at the rock for a long time and persistently - we can use what nature itself has built over millions of years.
This was done at the end of the 19th century in the American state of Virginia, by laying a railway through a natural cave made by groundwater in the thickness of limestone and dolomite. Nature created an underground structure, open at both ends, 255 meters long, up to 61 meters wide and up to 24 meters high. This is a real wonder of the world, European settlers in North America decided. This is a real tunnel - it would be a shame not to use it, their descendants-industrialists decided a couple of hundred years later, and ran freight and passenger trains through the cave. |
Longest underwater: Eurotunnel (under the English Channel between France and Great Britain)
Even if this tunnel (also known as Channel Tunnel And Le tunnel sous la Manche) would not be the current world record holder for the length of the underwater part, it should be included in our selection - for its symbolism. Opened in 1994, it embodied the almost two-century-old (the first plans for such a structure appeared in 1802) European dream of connecting the British Isles and the continent with a land line. It was built for a relatively short time, only six years, and they paid an astronomical amount even by today’s standards - about 9 billion pounds sterling (that is, 21 billion dollars at the then exchange rate), which turned out to be more than the planned 5.5 billion pounds. In any case, the project remained for quite a long time the most expensive infrastructure project in history.
On the continent, the tunnel begins in the Calais area. This photo shows how the railway tracks after the turning circle turn to the right and go towards the sea. There's a portal to Britain
As a result, we got two parallel tunnels with a diameter of 7.6 m 30 meters from each other for trains and a 4.8-meter service tunnel between them. The length of the railway part is 50 km, 37.9 of which pass under the bottom of the English Channel at a depth of 75 meters (or 115 meters below sea level).
On both sides the tunnel is connected to the high-speed rail network, thus connecting European railways with British ones. Trains run between London on one side and Paris, Brussels and Lille on the other. If you prefer to travel around Europe by car, the tunnel will help you too: you will not depend on the weather and suffer from pitching when crossing the English Channel by ferry. Instead, you can roll your car to Eurotunnel Shuttle- a 775-meter road train that will cross the strait through a tunnel in 35 minutes. True, you won’t go far on it: only to a special terminal in Nord-Pas-de-Calais or Kent: the train’s parameters are such that it is excellent for the fast and safe transportation of cars and trucks, but the train simply won’t go further.
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Between two continents: Marmaray tunnel (Istanbul, Türkiye) In terms of symbolism and significance, the Eurotunnel has a competitor - the Marmaray tunnel (Marmaray), lying under the bottom of the Bosphorus Strait and connecting the European and Asian parts of Istanbul, that is, in a sense, two continents: a 1.4-kilometer tunnel, or rather two parallel single-track tunnels for metro trains, built as part of a project to modernize the transport system of Istanbul, runs under the bottom the Bosphorus Strait at a depth of 60 meters in an earthquake-prone area and, moreover, in muddy soil and is capable of surviving an earthquake of magnitude up to 7.0.
While the tunnel was being built, in the ground on the European shore of the strait they discovered the remains of the harbor of Theodosius, the main port of ancient Constantinople, with a mass of ancient and medieval artifacts, including the remains of Byzantine galleys discovered for the first time, and then traces of the first human settlement on the territory of modern Istanbul, which is supposed to , arose around the 7th millennium BC. |
Deepest: Eiksund Tunnel (Norway)
Speaking about tunnels laid under the seabed, one cannot fail to mention Eiksundtunnelen. In comparison with the previous ones, it is very small - 7.8 km long - and, moreover, it is intended for vehicle traffic and connects not the two largest countries in Europe, but small villages on islands in the western Norwegian province of Mere og Romsdal with the continent. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is laid at a depth of up to 287 meters below sea level, and from the bottom of the Storfjord to the tunnel in some places there is up to 50 meters of rock.
The opening ceremony of the tunnel took place on February 23, 2008 - five years after the start of construction. The latter, by the way, was cheaper than planned - an amazing thing for infrastructure projects
The Eiksund tunnel is only part of the road complex, which also includes two smaller tunnels and a 405-meter bridge. The total population in the villages served by the complex is about 40 thousand people.
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Tunnels high in the mountains The purpose of a tunnel, as is commonly thought, is to go deep underground. However, you can climb underground even at high altitudes above sea level. This is done, for example, by one of the highest tunnels in the world - the Eisenhower Road Tunnel (or, officially, the Eisenhower and Edwin Johnson Memorial Tunnel, Eisenhower-Edwin C. Johnson Memorial Tunnel) 2.72 km long, cut under the American Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, at an altitude of 3357–3401 m (west and east entrance respectively) to facilitate highway traffic I-70.
The Eisenhower Tunnel's competitor in the fight for the title of world record holder is the railway tunnel under Mount Jungfrau in the Swiss Alps. It, along with underground stations and an open area, was completed by 1912 after 16 years of hard work. The tunnel is 7 km long (and the entire line is 9.3 km), the maximum height above sea level is 3454 m with a height difference of 1400 m. It is intended for pleasure trips along a narrow-gauge cogwheel railway line to the picturesque Jungfraujoch pass. It is noteworthy that the record for the number of passengers per day, recorded on June 1, 2000, was 8,148 people. No wonder: the cost of a ticket for an adult starts from 113 francs (about 7,000 rubles) - compare with the free Eisenhower Tunnel, through which about 30 thousand cars pass a day. |
Longest road road: Lærdal Tunnel (Norway)
Another record-breaking tunnel was built in Norway - Lerdalsky (Lærdalstunnelen) 24.51 kilometers long, it is currently the world's longest road tunnel. It is located about five hours by car along winding roads from Eiksund, connects the communes of Aurland and Laerdal in the province of Sogn og Fjordane and is part of the highway between the country's two largest cities - Oslo and Bergen, the introduction of which saved the Norwegians from having to overcome the route between cities by ferry or along mountain roads, which are especially inhospitable in winter and in bad weather.
While the tunnel itself is usually illuminated with white lamps, the cave sections dividing it into sections are illuminated in blue and yellow. This lighting is designed to imitate the dawn sky and is designed to reduce driver fatigue
Although the distance of approximately 25 km may not seem like much (only 20 minutes at the speed limit), the creators of the tunnel made sure that drivers travel through it as smoothly as possible - in particular, so that they do not fall asleep at the wheel and do not experience an attack of claustrophobia. To do this, the tunnel is divided into three large caves where you can stop or make a U-turn. It is noteworthy that in the same province they are seriously thinking about the construction of another tunnel - the Stadsky shipping tunnel, designed so that ships, including ferries, now bypassing the peninsula of the same name, could easily overcome one of the most dangerous sections of the sea off the coast of Western Norway. The construction of the tunnel, about 2 km long, 49 m high, 36 m wide and 12 m deep, is planned to begin this year or next, and will be completed in 2023. When and if the tunnel is built, Around the World will certainly talk about it - stay with us.
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The longest in Russia The longest tunnel in Russia, although much shorter in length than those described above, is no less impressive: 15 kilometers 343 meters through the granite of the North Muya Range in Buryatia took 26 years. This is not surprising: the builders had to contend with quicksand under pressure of up to 34 atmospheres, faults and other geological difficulties, as well as harsh climate, radon and background radiation and lack of funding - mining work began in 1977, and the first train passed through the tunnel only in 2001, thus, the project survived both the crisis and the collapse of the USSR, and the crisis of the early 1990s. The commissioning of the tunnel made it possible to establish non-stop movement of heavy freight trains along the BAM, which previously had to be disbanded and carried out in parts through a detour along steep avalanche-prone routes and viaducts. Travel time has been reduced on this section from two hours to 20–25 minutes. |
Photo: Jim.henderson / Wikimedia Commons, Emran Kassim / Flickr, Zacharie Grossen / Wikimedia Commons, Virginia State Parks / Wikimedia Commons, Philippe TURPIN / Getty Images, T.Müller / Wikimedia Commons, Patrick Pelster / Wikimedia Commons, Svein-Magne Tunli / Wikimedia Commons
The longest and deepest tunnel in the world, running under the Swiss Alps, has finally opened! To mark this occasion, in this article we will look at the longest railway tunnels in the world.
So, let's go!
10. Gumzang Tunnel, South Korea - 20.3 km
(Geumjeong Tunnel)
Gumzangl is ranked tenth on the list of the longest railway tunnels in the world. It is part of the Seoul-Busan High Speed Railway. A tunnel buried in the mountains connects the Nopo area with Busanjin Station in Busan.
Also, Gumzangl is the longest railway tunnel in South Korea. It is located at a depth of more than 300 m from the ground. Its width is 14 meters, height 12. The tunnel belongs to the South Korean Railway Administration.
Construction of the tunnel, which was completed in 2009, took place in three sections. The first two sites were opened in 2008. The last section, connecting Nopo-dong and Hwameong-dong, was completed in February 2009.
9. Wushaoling Tunnel, China - 21.05 km
(Wushaoling Tunnel)
Wushaoling, a railway tunnel in Gansu province in northwestern China, was the country's longest tunnel until the end of 2007. Located on the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway crossing the Wushaoling Mountains. After the tunnel was put into operation, the road between Lanzhou and Urumqi was shortened by 30.4 km and became completely double-track.
The tunnel consists of two parallel threads, laid at a distance of 40 meters from each other. The portal on the Lanzhou side is located at an altitude of 2663 m, the opposite portal is at an altitude of 2447 m. During the construction of the tunnel, a new Austrian tunneling method was used; the tunnel equipment allows trains to pass at speeds of up to 160 km/h. The eastern line of the Wushaoling tunnel was put into operation in March 2006, the western line in August 2006. The total construction cost was 7.8 billion yuan.
22,221 km
(Daishimizu Tunnel)
Daismizu Tunnel, Japan. Photo: Nihongarden/Wikimedia Commons
A railway tunnel on the Jōetsu Shinkansen high-speed line on the border of Gunma and Niigata prefectures.
In 1978, construction of the Dai-Shimizu Tunnel was completed. This tunnel was dug specifically for the Joetsu Shinkansen line, which was scheduled to be completed in 1982. This tunnel was the longest tunnel in the world. During construction, a fire broke out in the tunnel, resulting in very heavy smoke - 16 workers died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The Daismizu Tunnel reduced travel time between Niigata and Tokyo to approximately one hour and forty minutes, three hours faster than the regular Joetsu Line.
In addition, during the construction of the tunnel, potable natural mineral water was discovered, which is still sold in bottles to this day.
24 km
(Wienerwald Tunnel)
Wienerwald Tunnel, Austria. Photo: Line29 / Wikimedia Commons The 13.35 kilometer long railway tunnel near Vienna, which has been in operation since December 9, 2012, runs under the northern part of the Wienerwald between Gablitz and Mauerbach. This section of the new section, with speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour, between Vienna and St. Pölten, is part of the Austrian Western Railway.
The Vienna-St. Pölten section, the current four-way and largest railway corridor in the Westbahn, received two new high-speed branches extending far north of the original line. The largest superstructure is a tunnel that crosses the Wienerwald mountains.
11 km from the western portal of the Wienerwald Tunnel, a double-pipe tunnel (a tunnel consisting of two connected single-track pipes) was built, and the rest is a double-track single-pipe section. Construction of the single-pipe section began in the fall of 2004 using blasting and drilling. The tunnel drilling was completed two years later, structural work was completed in February 2010, and road construction began in the summer of 2010.
The Wienerwald Tunnel is only part of the tunnel complex: its eastern (Viennese) portal ends with an underground passage into a 2.2 km long tunnel with two additional lines for the old Westbahn (which has already been in operation since December 2008) and the Lainzer Tunnel - single-pipe, double-track tunnel with a length of 11.73 km, which opened in 2012). The eastern portal of the Lainzer Tunnel branches into two portals. A total of 24 km of the Wienerwald and Lainzer Tunnel allow travelers along the Westbahn to visit Vienna's new main station. This tunnel is the longest tunnel in Austria.
6. Iwate-Ichinohe Tunnel, Japan - 25,810 km
(Iwate-Ichinohe Tunnel)
The Japanese Iwate-Ichinohe Overland Rail Tunnel is part of the Tohoku Shinkansen line connecting Tokyo with Aomori. When it opened in 2002, it was the longest land tunnel in the world, but was surpassed by the Swiss Lötschberg Tunnel in June 2007.
The tunnel is located 545 km from Tokyo Station on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line, halfway between Morioka and Hachinohe. Preliminary work on the construction of the tunnel began in 1988. Construction began in 1991. The tunnel began operating when the railway opened in 2002. Maximum depth is about 200 m.
The tunnel passes through the hilly terrain near Mount Kitakami and Mount Ou. The Mabuchi and Kitakami rivers are located near the Tokyo Tunnel Port.
The Iwate-Ichinohe is a single-tube, double-track, horseshoe-shaped structure. Cross-sectional dimensions: 9.8 m (width) x 7.7 m (height). The tunnel rises with a 0.5% gradient from Tokyo Port for approximately 22 km and then descends with a 1% gradient to Aomori Port. During its construction, the new Austrian tunneling method (NATM) was used.
26.455 km
(Hakkōda Tunnel)
Hakkoda Tunnel, Japan. Photo: Wikimedia Commons The railway tunnel, with a total length of 26,445 kilometers (16,432 miles), is located in northern Japan in the central Aomori Prefecture. It extends across the Hakkyoda Range and links the village of Tenmabayashi with the city of Aomori.
The Hakkoda Tunnel is part of the Tohoku Shinkansen Northern Line and is located between Shichino-Budawa and Shin Aomori stations. Preliminary work on the tunnel began in August 1998. On February 27, 2005, it surpassed the Iwate-Ichinoe Tunnel of the same Tohoku Shinkansen line to become the world's longest surface tunnel. After just two months, this title was taken away from him by the Swiss Lötschberg Tunnel, which lost this title thanks to the Gotthard Base Tunnel that opened in 2016. However, the Lötschberg Tunnel is mostly single-track, while the Gotthard Base Tunnel is double-track, which is why it remains the longest double-track, single-tube surface railway tunnel in the world.
The tunnel began operating in 2010.
4. New Guan Jiao Tunnel, China - 32.645 km
(New Guanjiao Tunnel)
New Guan Jiao Tunnel, China. Photo: Wikimedia Commons This double-pipe railway tunnel is located on Line 2 of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in GuanJiao Mountains, Qinghai Province. The total length of the tunnel is 32,645 km (20,285 mi), making it the longest railway tunnel in China.
The China Railway First Survey and Design Institute was responsible for the design of the tunnel. The new Guan Jiao Tunnel was designed for two parallel single-track tunnels with travel speeds of up to 160 kilometers per hour (99 mph). The total duration of construction was 5 years. The tunnel was built in difficult geological conditions and at high altitude, exceeding 3,300 meters (10,800 ft) above sea level. Work on its construction began in 2007 and was completed in April 2014. The tunnel was opened on December 28, 2014.
The northeastern portal of the tunnel (37.1834°N 99.1778°E) is located in Tianjun County, the southwestern portal (37.0094°N 98.8805°E) is located in Wulan County.
3. Eurotunnel / Channel Tunnel, UK-France - 50 km
(Channel Tunnel)
Eurotunnel, UK-France. Photo: 4plebs.org Connecting the UK to mainland Europe (portals to Folkestone, Kent and Pas de Calais in northern France), the tunnel has the world's longest underwater section at 37.9 kilometers (23.5 miles).
Despite the fact that this tunnel is a miracle of the modern era, the idea for its construction belongs to the French engineer Albert Mathieu, who in 1802 proposed to build a tunnel under the English Channel. His plans included creating an artificial island in the middle of the canal where horse-drawn carriages could stop for maintenance.
“This is a megaproject. It has fundamentally changed the geography of Europe and helped cement high-speed rail as a viable alternative to short-haul flights,” said Matt Sykes, tunnel expert and director of engineering firm Arup.
Interesting fact: despite the fact that both the British and the French began work on creating the tunnel at the same time, the former did more work.
53,850 km
(Seikan Tunnel)
Seikan Tunnel, Japan. Photo: Bmazerolles / Wikimedia Commons A unique feature of Japan's Seikan Tunnel is that its 23.3 kilometers (14.2 miles) section lies 140 meters (460 feet) below sea level. Until the Gotthard Base Tunnel was built, Seikan was the longest and deepest railway tunnel in the world.
It spans the Tsugaru Strait, connecting Aomori Prefecture on the island of Honshu with the island of Hokkaido. Work on the tunnel began in 1964 and was completed in 1988.
Interesting fact: In 1976, construction workers stumbled upon an area of soft rock, causing water to rush into the tunnel at a rate of 80 tons per minute. The leak was neutralized only two months later.
57 km
(Gotthard Base Tunnel)
Gotthard Base Tunnel, Switzerland. Photo: Matthieu Gafsou / www.time.com European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande, attended the opening ceremony of the magnificent Gotthard Base Tunnel in June 2016, which featured colorful surreal scenes featuring costumed dancers, songs and fireworks.
Located at a depth of 2,300 meters (7,545 feet, almost 1.5 miles), the tunnel cuts travel time between Zurich, Switzerland and Milan by an hour.
The 57-kilometer tunnel runs between the towns of Erstfeld in the north and Bodio in the south. According to the Swiss Travel System, trains reaching speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph) complete the journey in 20 minutes.
Commercial operation of the tunnel began on December 11. On this day, the first regular passenger train left Zurich at 06:09 local time and arrived in Lugano at 08:17.
The Gotthard Base Tunnel took the title of the longest railway tunnel in the world from the 53.9-kilometer northern Japanese Seikan Tunnel and pushed the 50.5-kilometer tunnel between Great Britain and France into third place.
Interesting fact: during the construction of the tunnel, 3,200 kilometers of copper cable were used, the length of which would be enough from Madrid to Moscow.