Longest Rail Tunnels In the World

1. The 53.85km Seikan tunnel in Japan is the longest and deepest rail tunnel in the world. It passes through Tsugaru Strait connecting the Hokkaido and Honshu islands.It was built 100m below the seabed and includes a 23.3km submarine portion. It was officially opened in March 1988 and is used for the operation of express trains.The tunnel was sponsored by Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency and is operated by JR Hokkaido. The .....

Channel Tunnel UK

2. The 50.5km long Channel tunnel, located on the English Channel in the UK and France borders, is the longest undersea rail tunnel in the world. It connects Folkestone in Kent, UK, to Coquelles in Pas de Calais, France. The tunnel was opened for operations in 1994 after nearly six years of construction and cost $14.7bn. It recently won the Global Engineering Century Award by the international federation of civil engineering consultants, FIDIC.The t .....

Lotschberg Base Tunnel Switzerland

3. Lotschberg Base Tunnel, built through the Alps in Switzerland, is the third longest railway tunnel in the world. The 34.6km long tunnel allows passenger and freight trains operated by BLS on the Lotschberg line. The tunnel includes a non ballasted track on which trains run at 250kmph.The tunnel construction began in April 2005 and was completed in 2006. It was opened for full scale operations in December 2007. Around 20% of the tunnel was constru .....

Guadarrama Rail Tunnel Spain

4. Guadarrama is the longest twin tube rail tunnel in Spain and fourth longest in the world. The 28.4km tunnel is dug through Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range for the high speed railway between Madrid and Valladolid. The two parallel tunnels are 30m apart, measured from their central axes. The tunnel was constructed between 2002 and 2007 using TBMs built by Herrenknecht and Wirth. Spanish state owned company Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferr .....

Taihang Tunnel China

5. Taihang Tunnel, located in Taihang Mountains in China, is the fifth longest railway tunnel in the world. The 27.8km long twin tube tunnel was built as part of Shijiazhuang Taiyuan railway project to cross the Taihang Mountains. Construction of the tunnel was completed in December 2007. The tunnel passes through Yue Xiao, the main ridge of Taihang Mountains, with a maximum cover of 445m. The left track has a length of 27,839m, while the right trac .....

Hakkoda Tunnel Japan

6. Hakkoda tunnel, with a length of 26.45km, is the longest land based double track railway tunnel in Japan, and sixth longest in the world. It is located in the northern end of Hakkoda Mountain between Tenmabayashi mura and Aomori City in Aomori Prefecture in Japan.The tunnel is part of the Tohoku Shinkansen railway and was sponsored by Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (JRTT). It was built as part of the extension of Toho .....

Iwate Ichinohe Tunnel Japan

7. wate Ichinohe tunnel in Japan ranks seventh among the worlds longest railway tunnels. Also built as part of the Tohoku Shinkansen railway, it has an overall length of 25.81km. Tunnel construction began in August 1991. It was completed in 2000 and operations began in 2002. The tunnel services were, however, suspended following an earthquake in 2011.The tunnel design features a single bore twin track with a horseshoe shape. It is 9.8m wide and 7.7m .....

Daishimizu Tunnel Japan

8. The 22km Daishimizu tunnel is the eighth longest rail tunnel in the world. It is located on the Joetsu Shinkansen line in Japan. It reduced the travel time between Niigata and Tokyo to about one hour and forty minutes.Drill and blast excavation methods were used to build the tunnel through the Mikuni mountain range. The steep geography of the location called for the division of construction into six sections by means of access shafts. Evacuation .....

Wushaoling Tunnel China

9. Wushaoling tunnel, the ninth longest rail tunnel in the world, has an overall length of 21.05km. It is located at Gansu province in China and was constructed as part of the Lanxin (Lanzhou Xinjiang) high speed railway line.Tunnel construction began in November 2002. It was built using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method in a geologically challenging fault zone. Lingyuan Iron supplied 4,360t of steel for the tunnels construction.The tunnel includes .....

Geumjeong Tunnel South Korea

10. The 20.3km long Geumjeong tunnel is the tenth longest rail tunnel in the world. It is part of the Seoul Busan high speed rail line. The tunnel, bored through the Geumjeong Mountain, connects Nopo district with Busanjin station in Busan.Geumjeong is also South Koreas longest rail tunnel. It is located more than 300m below ground. It has a width of 14m and height of 12m. Korea Rail Network Authority owns the tunnel.Construction of the tunnel was ca .....

Pir Panjal Tunnel

11. The Pir Panjal Tunnel is a long under construction railway tunnel at the Pir Panjal Range of Himalayas in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The 11.00 km long Banihal railway tunnel will be Indias longest railway tunnel and and Asias 2nd longest railway tunnel. The great tunnel is located on the highest mountain pass on the eastern Pir Panjal range in middle of Himalayas. Indian Railways is closer to finish the work on Indias longest transportation .....

Karbude Tunnel

12. Karbude Tunnel was the longest rail tunnel in India before Pir Panjal tunnel.The Karbude tunnel is 6.5 km long and one of the Indias biggest engineering marvels is located on the Konkan Railway route near Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. Karbude tunnel is known to be the longest rail tunnel on Konkan railway line situated between Ukshi and Bhoke station. .....

Natuwadi Tunnel

13. The second longest rail tunnel of Konkan Railway is situated between Karanjadi and Diwan Khavati station in the state of Maharashtra. The 4.3 km long tunnel was constructed on 1997 and comes under the Zonal railway of Konkan. Konkan Railway is one of the most beautiful train route in India, runs from Mangalore in Karnataka to Mumbai in Maharashtra through Goa,along the west coast of India and Western Ghats. .....

Tike Tunnel

14. The 4.0 km long Tike Tunnel is located at the western ghat region of Maharashtra,between Ratnagiri and Nivasar. Ratnagiri is the beautiful port city of Maharashtra and a part of amazing Konkan along with the Sahyadri mountains. Ratnagiri region well known for its different varieties of Mangoes and lush green scenery. .....

Berdewadi Tunnel

15. The 4.0 Km long Berdewadi railway Tunnel is located between Adavali to Vilawade train route in the Maharashtra state of India. Berdewadi Tunnel is also the part of Konkan Railway train route, along with other tunnels such as Savarde tunnel,Barcem tunnel of Goa and Karwar tunnel of Karnataka. Khowai tunnel of Tripura, Chowk tunnel of Maharashtra and Sangar Jammu and Kashmir are few different rail route tunnels of Indian railway. .....

Chenani Nashri Tunnel

16. The Chenani Nashri Tunnel is the Indias longest road tunnel under construction in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir. The 9.2 km long road tunnel is a major road tunnel project in Northern India and biggest of the country. Chenani Nashri road tunnel is also known as Patnitop Tunnel is also one of the longest tunnel in Asia. The Shivalik mountain range of the great Himalayas will host the Indias longest 2 way traffic road tunnel. .....

Rohtang Tunnel

17. The Rohtang Tunnel is the Worlds Highest Road Tunnel situated under the Rohtang Pass of eastern Pir Panjal range of the Himalayas on the Leh Manali Highway in Himachal Pradesh. The 8.8 Km long two lane road tunnel is the second longest road tunnel of the country, situated at elevation of 3,978 meters above sea level and is expected to reduce the distance about 60 km between Manali and Keylong. .....

Jawahar Tunnel

18. Banihal Tunnel also known as Jawahar Tunnel is a 2.5 Km long road tunnel under the Banihal pass, situated between Banihal and Qazigund in Jammu and Kashmir. One of the longest tunnel road of India will connect Jammu to Kashmir Valley on Jammu Srinagar National Highway at a height of 2194 m above sea level. After renovations, the tunnel is now facilitates with temperature sensors,CCTVs,ventilation system, emergency exit and a world class lighting .....

Kamshet Tunnel

19. The Kamshet West Tunnel or Kamshet I tunnel is 1.843 km long road network tunnel situated near Kamshet in Pune Maharashtra. The longest road tunnel in Maharashtra has 2 tubes with 3 lanes lies on amazing Mumbai Pune Expressway. The Mumbai Pune Expressway is the Indias first six lane concrete tolled expressway with a distance of 93 km and one of the best too. Maharashtra will soon have the eight kilometer long tunnel, the second longest tunnel in .....

Bhatan Tunnel

20. Bhatan Tunnel on Mumbai Pune Expressway is 1.0 KM long road tunnel with all the possible new technology. The Mumbai Pune Expressway is the first six lane concrete, high speed, access controlled tolled expressway. The amazing expressway has reduced the travel time between the cities of Mumbai and Pune to approximately two hours. There are total 5 tunnel in Mumbai Pune Expressway, Bhatan tunnel is one of the longest among them.Other upcoming long t .....

Gotthard Base Tunnel Switzerland

21. Once completed in 2016, the Gotthard Base Tunnel will be the longest railway tunnel in the world. The 35 mile tunnel cuts under the Swiss Alps at 8,000 feet below sea level and is expected to reduce travel time between Zurich and Milan by about an hour. The building of the tunnel was an arduous feat as eight lives were lost during the process. For an up close look at the construction, the public can visit a multimedia exhibition for free or take .....

Yerba Buena Island Tunnel California

22. To cross over the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, drivers must travel through Yerba Buena Island by way of the Yerba Buena Island Tunnel. The tunnel, completed in 1936, remains the largest single bore tunnel in the world, measuring 76 feet wide and 58 feet high. To accommodate the large amount of traffic that travels across the bridge, the tunnel consists of two decks, each carrying five lanes. .....

Lardal Tunnel Norway

23. Stretching 15 miles long, the L?rdal Tunnel is the longest road tunnel in the world. The tunnel cuts through a mountain range that sits between the cities of Oslo and Bergen, providing a faster and safer route for drivers, especially during the wintertime. To keep drivers alert during the 20 minute underground journey, architects built in three caves or resting areas that feature vivid blue and yellow lights. .....

Fenghuo Mount Tunnel China

24. The Fenghuo Mount Tunnel is the worlds highest railway tunnel, reaching an elevation of 16,093 feet. The tunnel encases part of the scenic Golmud to Lhasa route, which is a route on the Qinghai Tibet Railway. The train that travels the railway is nicknamed the rocket to the rooftop of the world because 80% of its route is at an elevation above 13,000 feet. To compensate for the lack of oxygen at such an altitude, the train is equipped with two ox .....

Severn Tunnel

25. Located in the United Kingdom, the Severn Tunnel connects South Gloucestershire to Monmouthshire, beneath the River Severn. Construction of the Severn Tunnel was carried out from 1873 to 1886, by the Great Western Railway. Although the tunnels construction was completed in 1885, it took 14 years before the tunnel could service goods trains and passenger traffic because pumping systems were still unfinished. Before the high speed 1 tunnels were bu .....

Eiksund Tunnel

26. Although still under construction the Eiksund Tunnel in Norway is already the deepest underwater tunnel in the world at 942ft below sea level. At 4.8 miles long, the tunnel will service the areas of Heroy, Sande, Ulstein and Hareid. The reinforcement of this mammoth tunnel has already consumed around 172,000 square foot of concrete. More than 1,300 tonnes of explosives and a staggering 5 million blast holes were used to blast out the route. The t .....

Guadarrama Tunnel

27. The Guadarrama Tunnel is part of the Spanish high speed rail network connecting Madrid and Valladolid and is one of the most important travel links in Spain. Crossing the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain peninsula, this double fornix tunnel is 16.5 miles long, with the widest of the two tunnels 33ft in diameter. The construction contract was signed in 2001, and work began soon after using a Tunnel Boring Machine, although progress was delayed by esp .....

Tokyo Bay Aqua Tunnel

28. An integral part of the Tokyo Bay Aqualine, the Tokyo Bay Tunnel is a 5.9 mile long link between Kawasaki City and Kisarazu City that, along with a 2.75 mile long bridge and a completely artificial island, makes up the Trans Tokyo Bay Highway. The Highway opened in 1997 and saves commuters a tedius 62 mile journey through the congested heart of Tokyo. The shield tunnel has the largest diameter of its kind in the world at 45.5ft for two lanes of t .....

Serpukhovsko Timiryazevskaya Line

29. Often omitted from tunnel lists as it is in fact a metro line, the Serpukhovsko Timiryazevskaya Lines 25.5 mile length makes it the longest subway route in the world, so we feel it deserves some recognition. Originally opened in 1983, the line has been the subject of numerous expansions and lengthening until it achieved its well deserved title in 2007. It cuts the city of Moscow completely into two on a north south axis, and has a total of 25 sto .....