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look at Railways until the mid 1930's) or www.railhistory.co.ukThis site will take you back in time, to an age where only the rich could own a car or fly. The train was the only way many people could travel. Here you will find facts and stories about railways, trains, locomotives and the railway engineers, who built and ran them.
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International Railway LinksCes tâches n'ont pu être menées à bien que grâce à des innovations techniques dans le domaine des explosifs (dynamite) et à l'invention des perforatrices à air comprimé, puis électriques, qui permirent de limiter les dépenses dans l'excavation de tunnels longs de plusieurs kilomètres.
The Semmering-Railway held the worldwide highest attainable place for public railways until 1860 (max. altitude in 898 m above sea-level). First in the history of railway a technical sophisticated railway-route was buildt across an alpine pass.
At the beginning of this century, the company acquired a train service network between Quebec City and Hawkesbury. In 1912, in order to reduce travel time between the two cities, Canadian Northern drilled a 5.2 km tunnel through the volcanic rock of Mount Royal.
Exploring the Mount-Royal Tunnel ventilation shaft
Article with pictures from the tunnel
In 1913 construction started on the longest railway tunnel in Canada. When completed it eliminated 16 kilometres of some of the most hazardous railway line in the world. Operation of the eight-kilometer Connaught Tunnel commended on December 13, 1916. Rogers Pass was abandoned.
The History of Canadian Railways
The three crossings being built straddle an 18 km-wide waterway, and their drastic effect on the region's communications is illustrated by the fact that a crossing which formerly had to be undertaken by water, and took one hour, can now be achieved in just seven minutes.
Box tunnel was started in 1836 and took round about five years to be built. It is a railway tunnel that goes under the hill between Box and Corsham. At 2939 metres, it was the longest tunnel in the world at that time. It was so long that some people were too scared to go through it, so they had to be transported over the hill by carriage.
Bewdley Tunnel, 1877
This photograph is of the West end of Bewdley railway tunnel in England. It was taken during some repair work in 1910. The tunnel was built in 1876-7 by the Great Western Railway.
A Modern Day Wonder by John Neerhout, Jr.
It is both a privilege and pleasure for me to share with you today a perspective on one of the great technological accomplishments and civilization milestones of this era - The Channel Tunnel.
Facts and Figures about the Channel Tunnel
Cost: At the time of completion the tunnel cost £9,000,000,000
Length: Overall 50.45km (31.35 miles)
Length: Under Sea 38km (24 miles)
On the 1st of September 1886, the tunnel was opened for goods traffic. Nearly fourteen years from the time that the Great Western commenced the works, the Severn Tunnel was opened to passengers on the 1st of December 1886.
The Story of the Severn tunnel
The driving of a submarine tunnel is generally accompanied by great difficulties, but no undertaking of the kind has taxed the resource and courage of engineer and contractor more than did the Severn Tunnel, which is remarkable as being the longest submarine tunnel in the world (1886).
The Lesseux - Sainte-Marie link passes through a base tunnel which is 6874 m long and therefore was the longest tunnel entirely situated on French territory. The Lesseux-Sainte Marie line was opened in 1937, allowing for Nancy-Colmar direct trains.
The Seikan Tunnel is the world's longest submarine tunnel, involving excavation 100 meters below the seabed across a strait where the sea is up to 140 meters in depth. Plans, length profile..
Public outcry after a 1954 typhoon sank five ferry boats and killed 1,430 people in the Tsugaru Strait led the Japanese government to search for a safer way to make the crossing. Work on the Seikan began in 1964.
Shimizu tunnel, 1982
The Joetsu Shinkansen was laid to link the Pacific with the Japan Sea sides of Honshu, the main island of Japan, across the mid part of the island. Construction was started in December 1971 and completed in 1982, with bullet trains covering the distance between Omiya and Niigata (303.6 km) in one hour and 45 minutes. The Shimizu Tunnel, linking Niigata and Gunma prefectures, is the world's longest mountain tunnel, boasting a length of 22.3 km.
The longest tunnel in New Zealand, and indeed the longest in the southern hemisphere, is the 8879 m long Kaimai tunnel at Apata on the East Coast Main Trunk Line.
The Lyttelton tunnel, 1860 - 1867
It was New Zealand's first rail tunnel, and for many years the longest. It was the first tunnel in the world to be driven through the side of an extinct volcano.
The longest tunnels:
1. Romeriksporten, Gardermo line (Oslo - Lørenskog): 13 900 meters, opened 1998
2. Lieråsen, Drammen line (Asker - Lier): 10 723 meters, opened 1973
3. Finse, Bergen line: 10 300 meters, opened 1993
4. Kvineshei, Sørland line: 9 065 meters, opened 1943
5. Hægebostad, Sørland line: 8 474 meters, opened 1943
The Flåm Line (20 tunnels), 1941
This line is just a master piece of engineering. The train journey from Myrdal to Flåm is a railway experience unparalleled in Europe; 20 km long with a descent of 865 m, 20 tunnels with a total length of almost 6000 m and a gradient of one to 18. To cope with the enormous change in height over such a short stretch, the line runs partly through tunnels which spiral in and out of the mountainside. The gradient is quite exceptional for an ordinary normal-gauge railway not using cog wheels.
The longest tunnel on the Transsib: under Amur, is parallel to the bridge (about 6 km). The longest tunnel on a main route of the Transsib - Tarmanchukan tunnel, near Arkhara station (about 3 km).
Am 19. Dezember 1854 eröffnete die damalige Schweizerische Centralbahn (SCB) das erste Teilstück der Hauensteinlinie, die Strecke Basel - Liestal. Während auf diesem Teilstück die Züge ab dem 7. Januar 1855 fahrplanmässig verkehrten, waren die Bauarbeiten am 2496 m langen Hauenstein-Tunnel noch im Gange. Vor allem Wassereinbrücke machten den Arbeitern stark zu schaffen. Die Erleichterung war deshalb gross, als am 31. Oktober 1857, nach über vierjähriger Bauzeit, die Verbindung zwischen der Nord- und der rascher vorgetriebenen Südseite aufgenommen werden konnte. Am 27. April 1858 konnte der erste festlich geschmückte Zug durch den Tunnel fahren.
The Simplon Tunnel - Greatest Tunnel in the World, 1905
Modern History Sourcebook:
Francis Fox: How the Swiss Built the Greatest Tunnel in the World, 1905
There was no question that a tunnel through the Simplon would be a great advantage; but could it be made?
Tunneling in Switzerland
Article by K. Kovari
Die Albulabahn in der Schweiz führt über 62 Kilometer von Thusis nach St. Moritz (Kanton Graubünden). Insgesamt überwindet diese Strecke eine Höhendifferenz von 1.123 Meter.
Rhätische Bahn
Topics: Rhaetian Railway Network Rolling Stock History and Operations Photographic Reports Miscellaneous Information about the RhB
Information about Swiss narrow gauge railways
Switzerland's rail network is one of the world's most densely concentrated rail systems. Due to the extremely mountainous terrain, railway engineers opted for the more economical narrow gauge construction; the distance between the rails is less than the standard 1435 mm. Because of this large variety of design and purpose, detailed descriptions of many of them will be found on this website.
The 2,750 feet long Atlantic Street tunnel 30 feet below street level was abandoned in 1861 and rediscovered in 1981.
THE BERGEN ARCHES & ERIE CUT A History
The surge of passenger traffic at the turn of the 20th century on the renowned Erie Railroad demanded that the line's old Bergen Tunnel (constructed 1856-1861) be abandoned for a new cleaner, multi-track system. The double-track Bergen Tunnel was notorious for poor ventilation due to enormous steam locomotives; gruesome accidents; and annoying, money-losing gridlock.
The Hoosac Tunnel, on the Boston & Maine RR, 1874
The Hoosac Tunnel lies in Northwestern Massachusetts, and runs 4.82 miles under the Berkshire Mountain range. It is one of the great engineering feats of the 19th century, and took 22 years to complete.
Hoosac Tunnel
Secifications - Photographs - 1911 Tour Guide
The Elroy-Sparta State Trail "The three tunnel trail", 1873-1874
Welcome to the official web site of the Elroy-Sparta State Trail.
Scientific American—November 1, 1890
Progress of the great railway tunnels under the Hudson river between New York and Jersey city.
But we believe Mr. Haskin was the first to conceive and put into actual practice the idea of employing compressed air in a horizontal tunnel, for the purpose of assisting to uphold the earth of the side walls, ceiling and heading so that the same could be excavated and the masonry or iron tunnel put therein.
The Cascade Tunnel, Great Northern Railway, 1929
One of the most amazing engineering feats of the 1920's was carried out on the system of the Great Northern Railway of America when a new tunnel was driven through the giant Cascade range from Scenic to Berne. Just on eight miles were completed within three years.
The westbound Oriental Limited was GN's first train to pass through its completed Cascade Tunnel, on January 12, 1929. A tunnel 7.79 miles long in the Cascade mountain range of Washington, was at that time it was built this hemisphere's longest bore. The Great Northern built it between 1925 and 1929 to replace a shorter, less efficient tunnel at a higher altitude, just outside which a snow slide had hurled a passenger train and other railroad property into a ravine, killing at least 101 people.
Great northern, Cascade tunnel "The longest tunnel in the World" (1906)
A separate ventilation project was completed in 1956, which allowed diesel engines in the tunnel, and marked the end of electric train operations. Length: 41,183 feet, or 7.8 miles, which at the time of completion was the longest railroad tunnel in the western hemisphere. Elevation: 2,881 feet above sea level.
The Chicago Tunnel Company Railroad Home Page
This website tells the story about a 60-mile, two-foot gauge electric railroad that operated 149 locomotives and over 3000 freight cars in small tunnels forty feet below the streets of downtown Chicago.
The BART's tunnels and tubes
San Francisco was very congested. They needed a different mode of transportation to get people in there and BART, more specifically the tube, was its salvation. Construction began in 1965 with plans to build 57 sections of tube shells measuring nearly 48 feet wide, 24 feet high and about 330 feet long.
Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel - Whittier Tunnel, June 7, 2000
The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is located on the Portage Glacier Highway, and this highway connects the city of Whittier and Prince William Sound to the Seward Highway and the rest of Southcentral Alaska. The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is a landmark effort that boasts several "firsts": The longest highway tunnel in North America. The longest combined rail-highway use tunnel in North America.....
A unique tunnel design transforms a 1940s-era railroad tunnel into a 21st-century road and railroad tunnel. For the first time this summer, automobiles and trains will be able to travel through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel to Whittier. Thanks to a unique design, the tunnel will allow a single lane of automobile traffic to drive directly over the railroad track - a design that saved tens of millions of dollars over the cost of constructing a new tunnel for vehicles.