Builders have drilled 80% of the length of the upper part of the new dual-track Beskydsky railway tunnel through a mountain pass in the Carpathians, the press service of the State Railway Administration (Ukrzaliznytsia) has announced.
In particular, builders have drilled 1,463 meters. By February next year, builders will have drilled an additional 302 meters and emerged on the surface at the opposite side of the ridge.
After that, they will begin work on deepening the tunnel along its entire length. The Interbudmontazh Company is drilling the tunnel.
As reported, the main work involving the drilling of the tunnel began in November 2013. The tunnel will have a total length of 1,764 meters. It will lie at a depth of 180 meters from the surface of the Beskydsky ridge. The tunnel is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017. The new tunnel will have a capacity of 100 pairs of trains per day (the current tunnel has a capacity of 47 pairs) and the travel speed within the tunnel will be 60 km/h (currently 40 km/h).
More than 60% of the goods transported on transit to Western and Central Europe pass through the Beskydsky tunnel.
