Builders had already drilled 501 meters of the new Beskydsky railway tunnel as of 13:00 on 11 September, and the drilling work is being performed around the clock, the press service of the State Railway Administration (Ukrzaliznytsia) announced.
The tunneling speed currently reaches 3.5 meters per day.
The Beskydsky tunnel is of strategic importance to Ukraine because goods are transported to the western border of the country through this route and more than 60% of the goods on transit to Western and Central Europe go through the route.
The tunnel will have a total length of 1,764 meters. Construction work began on 29 October 2013, and the facility is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2017. The new double-track tunnel is being built 30 meters from the existing single-track tunnel.
