Since the construction of the 770 meter Taylor Hill single track tunnel and the 2474 meter Victoria double track tunnel on steam locomotive hauled railways in Britain in 1826, numerous railway tunnels have been constructed in countries such as Britain, the United States, and France. In the 19th century, a total of 11 railway tunnels with a length of over 5 kilometers were built, including 3 tunnels with a length of over 10 kilometers. Among them, the longest is the Saint Gotha railway tunnel in Switzerland, which is 14998 meters long. The Galera Railway Tunnel in Peru, which was opened in 1892, has an altitude of 4782 meters and is currently the world’s highest standard gauge railway tunnel. Currently, the Fenghuo Tunnel on the Qinghai Tibet Railway in China is the world’s highest single track railway tunnel at an altitude. Before the 1860s, tunnels were constructed using manual drilling and black powder blasting methods. In 1861, during the construction of the Sinis Peak railway tunnel crossing the Alps, pneumatic rock drills were first used instead of manual drilling. In 1867, when the Hussac Railway Tunnel was built in the United States, nitroglycerin explosives were used instead of black gunpowder, which further developed the tunnel construction technology and speed.
The Shiqiuling Tunnel, built by China from 1887 to 1889 on the narrow gauge railway from Taipei to Keelung in Taiwan Province, was the first railway tunnel in China, with a length of 261 meters. Afterwards, some tunnels were built on railways such as Beijing Han, Middle East, and Zhengtai. The four tunnels built in the Guangou section of the Beijing Zhangjiakou Railway were the first batch of railway tunnels built using China’s own technical strength. The longest Badaling Railway Tunnel is 1091 meters long and was completed in 1908. Before 1950, China had only built 238 standard gauge railway tunnels, with a total extension of 89 kilometers. Since the 1950s, the number of tunnel constructions has significantly increased. Between 1950 and 1984, a total of 4247 standard gauge railway tunnels were built, with a total extension of 2014.5 kilometers, making it one of the countries with the most railway tunnels in the world. The number of Chinese standard gauge railway tunnels constructed is shown in Table 1 [Number of Chinese standard gauge railway tunnels constructed]. In addition, China has built 191 narrow gauge railway tunnels, with a total extension of 23 kilometers. As of 1984, China had built a total of 10 tunnels with a length of over 5 kilometers (Table 2 [Railway Tunnels with a length of over 5 kilometers in China]), with the longest being the Yimaling Railway Tunnel of the Jingyuan Railway, which is 7032 meters long. The Dayao Mountains double track tunnel of Hengshao section of Beijing Guangzhou Railway, 14.3km long, is under construction. The highest railway tunnel in China is the Guanjiao Railway Tunnel on the Qinghai Tibet Railway, with a length of 4010 meters and an altitude of 3690 meters.
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Post time: Mar-06-2024
