Top 10 Longest Tunnels in The World to Explore
Top 10 Longest Tunnels in The World |
The man-made tunnel is one of the most impressive engineering feats performed by man. Faced with natural obstacles such as mountain passes or large bodies of water, tunnels have radically enhanced our ability to transport people and goods around the world.
In this post, Knowinsiders.com will take a look at the 10 longest tunnels in the world. We will see some cleared through miles of solid rock, deep under mountain passes, and others deep under the sea through great bodies of water.
While the world's longest rail/automobile tunnels are impressive, longer tunnels are being built continuously and are even currently under construction. For example, since 1980, the longest tunnel in the world has changed five times.
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1. Gotthard Base Tunnel
Gotthard Base Tunnel |
The Gotthard Tunnel is actually a tunnel located right under the Swiss Alps. With a length of about 57 km, it is rated as the longest tunnel in the world, longer than Japan's Seikan undersea tunnel. The Gotthard Tunnel connects the two cities of Erstfeld and Bodio Switzerland. The tunnel has two single tunnels and each tunnel is a track. Gotthard Tunnel is about 2.3km deep under the mountains and through rock formations with temperatures up to 46 degrees Celsius. Engineers had to dig and break all 73 different types of rock, including several types. hard as granite.
More than 28 million tons of rock were moved elsewhere and nine workers died during the construction of the Gotthard tunnel. It is known that about 2,600 people were involved in the design and construction of the tunnel. The tunnel traffic control system was completely renovated between 2003 and 2005 by SWARCO's former subsidiary Weiss-Electronic GmbH. During the implementation of some extensive work, the traffic control system was prepared for integration into the operational management of the states of Tessin (TI), Nidwalden (NW) and Uri (UR) with the next BLE network integration of all traffic computers.
2. Seikan Tunnel
Seikan Tunnel |
Seikan Tunnel is the longest railway tunnel in the world with a total length of 53.85 km, of which the submerged part is 23.3 km long. It is located below the Tsugaru Strait connecting the two islands of Honshu and Hokkaido - part of the Kaikyo Line operated by the Hokkaido railway company.
The tunnel was built in 1971 and opened on March 13, 1988, owned by the Japan Railway Engineering, Transport and Technology Bureau and operated by Hokkaido Railway Company. Initially, the tunnel had only narrow rail tracks. But after the Hokkaido Shinkansen project started in 2005, it was equipped with dual tracks and connected to the Shinkansen system. The tunnel has 52 km of continuous track with the world's first two stations built under the sea. Currently, the Seikan Tunnel is the longest tunnel in Japan.
3. Brenner Tunnel
Brenner Tunnel |
The Brenner Tunnel is a 55-kilometer plan, railway tunnel that traverses the Alps. It will run from Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof in Austria to Franzensfeste (Fortezza) in Italy, partially replacing the existing railway. The Brenner Pass border, located in the Alps between Austria and Italy, is one of the most important transport routes between northern and southern Europe, the motorway passing through it suffers from severe traffic jams. Pollution from traffic is a major concern.
The tunnel's hope is to help alleviate this situation by significantly improving the railway between North Tyrol and South Tyrol with the new tunnel allowing trains to travel through the Alps much faster. Currently, the traffic speed in the Brenner area hardly ever exceeds 70 km/h due to the slope of the existing roads, crossing the pass at a dangerous height. The project is funded by Austria. and Italy and the contribution of the European Union. It will be the second longest tunnel in the world, after the Gotthard tunnel. Funding to date will not be sufficient for the estimated cost. The tunnel is expected to be completed by 2025.
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4. Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel |
This is a 50.45 km long railway tunnel located beneath the English Sea in the Strait of Dover, connecting Folkestone, Kent in England with Coquelles near Calais in northern France. This was considered a grand project with many false starts, but was finally successful in 1994. This tunnel is operated by Eurotunnel. In this tunnel there are fast passenger trains, vehicle transport or international freight trains. In 1996, the American Society of Civil Engineers rated this tunnel as one of the 7 wonders of the modern world.
The idea of a permanent tunnel connecting the two coasts appeared as early as 1802, but pressure from British politicians and the British press on national security issues delayed the construction efforts. However, the project was finally successful and construction started in 1988, put into operation in 1994. The cost of the project exceeded the estimate by 80%. Since its construction, this tunnel has faced many very serious problems. Fires have delayed the tunnel's operation. Unauthorized immigrants used the tunnel to enter the UK causing a diplomatic disagreement over the location of the Sangatte refugee camp, which was eventually closed in 2002, but after repairs were made. it worked again near the end of 2008.
5. Lotschberg Tunnel
Lotschberg Tunnel |
The Lotschberg Tunnel, located about 400m below the Lotschberg River crossing the Swiss Alps, was opened in June 2007. The construction of this tunnel is intended to ease the flow of trucks on Swiss roads. . It reduces travel time for German tourists to Switzerland vacationing and skiing and cuts travel time from Valais to Bern by only 50%. Total estimated cost is €4.3 billion (as of 2007, adjusted for 1998).
The construction of the Lotschberg tunnel through the Alps can be considered another engineering feat of the Swiss transport network. The Lotschberg Line was the first of two major railway lines aimed at transferring transplanetary transport from road to rail. Switzerland spent $26.5 billion on two new facility tunnels in both Lotschberg and Gotthard with the aim of completing a project called the New Rail Link over the Alps. It will form the first north-south high-speed rail line across the Alps and in the coming years will be the only line to do so.
6. Lærdal Tunnel
Lærdal Tunnel |
Norway is home to the world's longest completed tunnel, Laerdal. The tunnel passes through 24.51 km of mountainous terrain. The engineers who created Laerdal didn't want the driver to have to go through 20 minutes of boredom, so they divided the tunnel into several sections, each with its own subtle lighting and curvature.
The Lærdal Tunnel in Norway is the longest road tunnel in the world. After 5 years of construction, it was completed in 2000 and is 24.51 km long. The tunnel connects the autonomous cities of Lærdal and Aurland and avoids the need to take ferries or difficult mountain crossings in winter.
Although there are no emergency exits in the Lærdal Tunnel, it is equipped with many safety precautions such as emergency telephones, fire extinguishers, mobile phone wiring, emergency niches and areas. turn the car.
7. Koralm Tunnel
Koralm Tunnel |
The Koralm is a railway tunnel still under construction in Austria located in the Koralpe Mountains. It is expected to start operating in 2022. The planned tunnel will be 32.9km long and will be Austria's longest railway tunnel. It runs to a depth of up to 1,250 m below ground level. The tunnel, called Koralm, will consist of two tunnels running parallel and linked together every 500 meters. An emergency stop in the middle of the tunnel was included in the construction schedule.
More than 800 people and three tunnel boring machines were used in the construction of the Koralm tunnel. This is the world's first tunnel boring machine that can be used continuously in rock harder than 17km. Work on a railway called Koralm connecting Graz and Klagenfurt in Austria, which is operating at full capacity, is 90% completed. This 130km railway is one of the most important transport infrastructure projects in Europe. It is part of the new Southern Line and thus an essential part of the Baltic-Adriatic corridor. The railway represented a decisive structural improvement, especially for southern Austria as a place of business. The shortest travel time between Graz and Klagenfurt will be reduced from the current three hours to just 45 minutes.
8. West Qinling Tunnel
West Qinling Tunnel |
The tunnel is part of a railway from Lanzhou to Chongqing, China that opened in late 2014. This railway line is about 820 km long connecting Gansu province (Lanzhou) with southwestern Chongqing. , is a city of more than 35 million people. The tunnel will be used for freight transport and link Longnan city with the towns of Waina, Luotang and Fengxiang in Gansu province.
The new railway line has been built at a cost of 11.3 billion USD, it will shorten the transit time from 17.5 hours to only 6.5 hours and allow an annual transit output of about 100 million ton. Trains will pass here at 160 kilometers per hour and a daily maximum of 50 trains.
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9. Guadarrama Tunnel
Guadarrama Tunnel |
Guadarrama is a railway tunnel across the Sierra de Guadarrama, along the Madrid - Valladolid highway in Spain. The tunnel consists of two pipes. The western pipes are 28,407 meters long, and the eastern ones are 28,418 meters long. This is Spain's longest tunnel and was opened in December 2007. This tunnel is used by AVE high-speed trains. This is a new north-south railway that will facilitate communication between Meseta and the northern part of the peninsula, across the Guadarrama mountain range.
The project includes the construction of blocks 3 and 4 of this tunnel through the construction of two parallel tunnels from the two northern gates on the route, 13.3 km long for Lot 3 and 15.8 km long for Lot 4. The tunnel is designed for an operating speed of 350 km/h considering aerodynamics and comfort criteria. The Guadarrama Tunnel installs a single track without ballast and ventilation, lighting, telephone, signaling, public address, fire detection and extinguishing, and electrical systems, along with all the measures. safety measures during operation. This work posed a great engineering, engineering and construction challenge, becoming the sixth longest railway tunnel in Europe, seventh in the world and second in Spain after the Guadarrama tunnel.
10. The Taihang Tunnel
The Taihang Tunnel |
This double-track, single-tube tunnel is northern China's third-longest mountain railway tunnel. It is 27.839 kilometers long and allows the high-speed railway from Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan to cross the Taihang Mountains.
The tunnel, which officially opened in 2007, has significantly improved the connection between two provincial capitals: Shijiazhuang in Hebei and Taiyuan in Shanxi. Travel time between these two cities has been reduced from six hours to one hour.
Conclusion
Above is a list of the longest tunnels in the world, which KnowInsiders.com would like to introduce to readers. Indeed, nothing can stop the footsteps of people whether it is high mountains or deep sea.
The tunnels above give us a better understanding of this! Please follow Toplist.vn more to update other interesting information!
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