Kamchiq tunnel
| Kamchiq tunnel | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| use | railroad | |||
| traffic connection | Angren – Pop railway line | |||
| place | Qurama Mountains | |||
| length | 19.2 km | |||
| Number of tubes | 1 main tunnel + 1 emergency tunnel |
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| construction | ||||
| building-costs | 455 million US dollars | |||
| start of building | the end of 2013 | |||
| completion | February 27, 2016 | |||
| business | ||||
| operator | Oʻzbekiston Temir Yoʻllari | |||
| release | June 22, 2016 | |||
| Angren – Pop railway line with Kamchiq tunnel | ||||
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| location | ||||
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| Coordinates | ||||
| North portal | 41 ° 9 ′ 9 ″ N , 70 ° 27 ′ 17 ″ E | |||
| South portal | 41 ° 4 ′ 15 " N , 70 ° 42 ′ 7" E | |||
Map with all coordinates: The Kamchiq Tunnel is a 19.2 km long, single-track railway tunnel on the Angren – Pop railway line in Uzbekistan , which was opened in 2016. It is considered to be the longest railway tunnel in the 1520 mm broad gauge network of Eurasia.
Geographical conditions
Before the tunnel was built, the Ferghana Valley could only be reached from the other regions of Uzbekistan via a mountain road and the 2267 m high Kamchiq Pass or via Tajik territory, which became a problem after Uzbekistan gained independence in 1991. It was therefore decided to build the Angren – Pop railway line in order to create a direct winter-safe connection.
construction
The construction of the tunnel was in September 2013 to 455 million US dollars to the China Railway Tunnel Group awarded (CRTG), which subcontracts awarded to several Uzbek construction companies. For the railway tunnel and the emergency tunnel, a total of 47 km had to be excavated, which was accomplished in just 900 days (less than two and a half years).
The difficult geological conditions in the Qurama Mountains with seven fault zones in the course of the tunnel were a challenge during construction . The blasting operation repeatedly triggered rockfalls that endangered machines and workers. In the largest of the more than 3000 counted mountain blows, almost 2000 m³ of rock loosened. No one was injured in the incidents.
The weather conditions on the construction site also caused problems. Temperatures down to −40 ° C were measured. In January 2014 there was exceptionally heavy snowfall for two weeks, so that avalanches buried the access road to the construction site eight meters deep and cut it off from the outside world. The construction workers worked continuously for three days and nights to clear away the snow.
The shell of the tunnel was completed in February 2016. After the installation of the railway technology, the first test drives took place in April.
opening
On June 22, 2016, the Angren – Pop line was opened together with the tunnel in the presence of Islom Karimov , the President of Uzbekistan, and Xi Jinping , the Chinese President .
Individual evidence
- ^ Railway Gazette: Two presidents open Angren - Pap railway. Retrieved July 3, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c Chinese technology open up Central Asia's longest tunnel. (No longer available online.) February 29, 2016, archived from the original on March 6, 2016 ; Retrieved July 3, 2016 (cn). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Huang Jin: Chinese technology opens longest tunnel in Central Asia. In: People's Daily Online. February 29, 2016, accessed July 3, 2016 .
- ^ Chinese, Uzbek leaders hail inauguration of Central Asia's longest railway tunnel. In: Xinhua. Retrieved July 3, 2016 .
