Ukrzaliznytsia has completed the first phase of construction of the Beskyd railway tunnel. According to the press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure, the hardest part of the job has been done - the upper part of the tunnel has been drilled. As reported, in accordance with the construction technology, a tunnel with a small width is first drilled through the mountain, after which the drilling machine goes back to expand the tunnel.
Construction of the Beskyd tunnel is funded by the European Investment Bank (EUR 55 million) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (about EUR 40 million). Ukrzaliznytsia also bears some of the costs.
The budget for the first phase of the construction project was USD 39.71 million in loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
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, and the first train is expected to travel through the new tunnel in the second quarter of 2018.
The capacity of the tunnel will increase from 47 to 100 pairs of trains per day and the travel speed of trains within the tunnel will increase from 15-40 km/h to 60-70 km/h after its completion.
According to Minister of Infrastructure Andrii Pyvovarskyi, the new tunnel will accelerate delivery of goods to European countries.
The existing single-track Beskyd tunnel was built in 1886, and it is the second longest railway tunnel in Ukraine.
It is part of the fifth pan-European transport corridor (Italy-Slovenia-Hungary-Slovakia-Ukraine-Russia). More than 60% of the goods transported on transit to Western and Central Europe pass through the Beskyd tunnel.
