Builders had drilled 1,308 meters of the new, two-track Beskydsky railway tunnel through a mountain pass in the Carpathians as of 6 July, the press service of the State Railway Administration (Ukrzaliznytsia) has announced.
This is about 75% of the design length of the tunnel. However, it should be noted that this is only the top part of the tunnel. In accordance with the construction technology, a tunnel with a smaller width is first drilled. After the small tunnel is drilled through the mountain, the drilling machine goes back to expand the tunnel. Thus, the first stage of the tunnel drilling work has reached 75% completion.
After completion of the drilling of the tunnel, railroad workers will lay tracks, build communications networks, and electrify the tracks.
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.
