The longest underwater tunnel in the world. Longest tunnels

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A 53.85 km long railway tunnel in Japan with a 23.3 km underwater fragment. The tunnel descends to a depth of about 240 meters, 100 meters below the seabed. It runs under the Sangar Strait, connecting the 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 under the seabed and the second longest railway tunnel in the world.

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Railway tunnel in Switzerland 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 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 Metro: Line 10

The high-speed rail system of Beijing, the capital of China, has been operating since 1969 and has been booming since the end of the 20th century. It takes the II place among the metro systems in the world in terms of the length of lines and in terms of annual passenger traffic, as well as the second place in terms of peak daily passenger traffic after the Moscow metro.

7 Guangzhou Metro: Line 3

The decision to build a subway 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, the 6th metro line was opened.

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It was built in 1987 in Sweden. The cross section of the tunnel is 8 m 2.

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Within the framework of large water resources. of the Orange River project, dams and reservoirs Hendrik-Verwoord and Le Roux were built in the middle reaches of the river, designed to regulate the river flow, irrigate agricultural lands, industrial water supply, for hydropower purposes. Part of the runoff from the Hendrik-Verwoerd reservoir is diverted through a tunnel through a 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 Great Danyang-Kunshan Bridge is the most long bridge in the world.

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Päijänne water conduit- a tunnel-aqueduct located in the south of Finland. Its length is 120 km, depth is from 30 to 100 m from the surface. The purpose of the construction of the pipeline is to supply water to the metropolitan agglomeration of Finland, in which cities (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and others) are home to more than a million people.

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Many of us can afford the luxury of instant access to clean water, but few people think about how miracles of technology we can pour ourselves a glass of water. New York is one of those cities that lack sources fresh water... As the population grew, aqueducts began to appear. In 1945, the Delaware Aqueduct appeared. Today it provides 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 water volume 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, as 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 a reservoir in Manchester; about 250 thousand pass through it every day. cubic meters water.

Image copyright AFP Image caption This photograph was taken on October 15, 2010. Workers stand at a huge tunnel shield, with the help of which the tunnel was built.

The world's longest and deepest Gotthard railway tunnel opened in Switzerland today. It took almost 20 years to build it and more than $ 12 billion.

Its permanent operation will begin in December.

Swiss authorities say the tunnel will revolutionize the transport of goods in Europe. Goods, which are now carried by millions of trucks every year, will be transported by rail.

This technological miracle will provide faster and easier connections between southern and northern Europe. The tunnel will speed up the movement of goods and people and reduce pollution environment exhaust gases from cars.

The Swiss authorities predict that 260 freight trains will be able to pass through the tunnel per day. 20 million passengers a year will be able to use new highway... Travel time from Zurich to Milan will be reduced to 2 hours 50 minutes.

Conquering the Alps as part of self-identification

Until now, the longest railway tunnel in the world was considered to be the Japanese Seikan with a length of 53.9 km with an underwater fragment of 23.3 km.

The Gotthard Tunnel is also ahead of the length of the Channel Tunnel, which is 50.5 km long.

It is not only the longest tunnel in the world, it is also the deepest railway tunnel in existence: the maximum height of the mountains above the tunnel is 2300 meters. Without a powerful ventilation system, the temperature in it would reach +40 degrees.

On solemn ceremony German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande will attend the opening of the tunnel in Switzerland along with Swiss officials.

"This is part of Swiss identity," Reuters quoted Peter Fueglistaler, head of the Swiss Federal Department of Transport, as quoted by Reuters.

“For us, conquering the Alps is like exploring the oceans for the Dutch,” he said.

Tunnel cost: $ 12 billion and 9 lives

The project, which cost more than $ 12 billion to build, was approved by the Swiss in a 1992 referendum.

During the construction of the tunnel, engineers removed 73 types of different rocks some were as hard as granite, others as soft as sugar. Nine workers died during construction.

Completed on time and on budget, the Gotthard Tunnel will become the main railway linking Rotterdam in the Netherlands with Genoa, Italy. The tunnel, consisting of two parallel tunnels, runs from the municipality of Bodio in southern Switzerland to the municipality of Erstfeld in the center of the country.

From December, when permanent operation of the tunnel begins, the journey from Zurich to Milan will take two hours and forty minutes - an hour less than usual.

The money to finance the project was taken from budget receipts from taxes on fuel and value added, another part of the funds is a government loan, which must be paid over 10 years.

Representatives of the Swiss bank Credit Suisse said that among the economic benefits of the Gotthard Tunnel were simplified transportation of goods and an influx of tourists.

All along the road in the tunnel is illuminated by light with a bluish tint, in the grottoes the light is bright blue with orange illumination from below, which is close to the color of sunlight.

Emergency telephones for rescuers are located every 250 meters.
Mobile phones operate in the tunnel through special repeaters.
Every 125 meters, fire extinguishers are attached to the arches of the tunnel.
Along the way, electronic displays are installed that signal and warn the driver in case of danger, for example, in the event of an accident, in the depths of the tunnel.

Emergency niches are created every 500 meters for emergency stop of cars.
At the entrance and exit of the tunnel, photo sensors are installed, which, according to the program, detect the number of cars entering and leaving. This is also one of the security measures.

An interesting feature! The tunnel itself in to a greater extent straight, in fact 25, 5 km of a straight road. In Norway, and especially near Bergen, there are almost no straight sections of roads, and the drivers in the tunnel began to exceed the speed limit. In order to record violations, devices were installed to measure the speed of vehicles moving inside the tunnel.
A forced ventilation is created in the tunnel to clean the air from exhaust gases.

Tunnels are real architectural wonders that have evolved and improved since ancient times. The tunnels probably originate from the caves that the ancients used as dwellings. Looking to the future, to a more civilized period, one can see that the tunnels are used as secret passages, usually underground. They were used for shelter from enemies. Nowadays, tunnels are being built for completely different purposes. In this collection I will tell you about the longest tunnels in the world and their purpose.

1. So, the longest tunnel in the world at the moment is in Japan. This railway tunnel is 53, 850 meters long. Just imagine how many days it will take to travel on foot before you get to the other side.

The Seikan Tunnel is also the longest underwater tunnel in the world. After World War II, Japan felt the need to connect the islands of Hokkaido and Honshu so that the country would be geographically unified. From its planning in 1946 to its official opening on March 13, 1988, it took more than 40 years to complete. The construction cost a lot of money:? 538.4 billion, equivalent to $ 3.6 billion

Today, unfortunately, Seikan is not used as often as it used to be because air travel is both faster and cheaper. However, this structure was one of the main reasons that Japan is strong and united to this day. It is worth mentioning that this tunnel will remain the longest until 2016, when the Gotthard Base Tunnel is built in Switzerland.

2. The Channel Tunnel, or the longest international tunnel in the world, connects the United Kingdom and France with a 50,500 meter passage. The tunnel connects the cities of Folkestone in the UK and Calais in France. The tunnel also boasts the world's largest car transport train called the Eurotunnel Shuttle.

The construction of the Channel Tunnel has been frozen for nearly two hundred years since 1802, due to constant hesitation from the British and political instability. Ultimately, in 1988, construction began and ended fairly quickly in 1994. The Channel Tunnel was also one of the candidates for the Seven New Wonders of the World. Undoubtedly, this great structure played a key role in the unification of Britain with the mainland, although with material point vision, it still remains unprofitable

3. Compared to other tunnels Lötschberg tunnel(L? Tschberg) is still quite young, it was completed in 2006, and officially opened in June 2007. The Lötschberg tunnel is the most long tunnel in the world on land, is 34,700 meters long. The tunnel runs between the Swiss cantons of Bern and Valais and is used by freight and passenger trains. Thanks to the latest technology the tunnel was built very quickly, in less than two years. More than 20,000 Swiss use it every week to get to the Welsh thermal spas by the shortest route. L? Tschberg significantly reduced traffic in the region, as trucks used to bypass Switzerland to get from Bern to Valais. Interestingly, the heat from the underground waters from the tunnel heats the Tropenhaus Frutigen greenhouse, where tropical fruits are grown.

4. in Norway - the longest road tunnel in the world, its length is as much as 24,000 meters, located in the county of Sogn og Fjordane. Until 1999, the Swiss Gotthard Road Tunnel was the longest road tunnel until Laerdal was built in 2000

The Lardal tunnel has been designed according to modern standards. Unlike most tunnels, Laerdal is divided into four sections, each with special lighting. The lighting effect mimics natural light at dawn and dusk. Also on the positive side is that you don't have to pay any money for travel.

Driving through the tunnels is always perceived in a special way, very exciting - you see how the headlights grab images and road signs how the air makes noise during fast driving and with special joy you perceive the light at the end of the tunnel. We told you about the four longest tunnels in the world, we wish you to drive through each of them and get an unforgettable experience.