A disused railway tunnel now converted to pedestrian and bicycle use, near Houyet, Belgium
A tunnel is an underground passage. When designed for use by traffic, it may be called an underpass.
A tunnel may be for pedestrians and/or cyclists, for general road traffic, for motor vehicles only, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some are constructed purely for carrying water (for consumption, for hydroelectric purposes or as sewers), while others carry other services such as telecommunications cables. There are even tunnels designed as wildlife crossings for European badgers and other endangered species.
In the UK a pedestrian tunnel or other underpass beneath a road is called a "subway". This term was also used in the past in the US, but is now used to refer to underground mass transit systems, generally called metros outside the US.
The central part of a metro or subway network is usually built in tunnels. To allow non-level crossings, some lines are in deeper tunnels than others. At metro stations there are usually also pedestrian tunnels from one platform to another. Often, ground-level railway stations also have one or more pedestrian tunnels under the railway to enable passengers to reach the platforms without having to walk across the tracks.
Types of tunnels
Tunnels are dug in various types of materials, from soft clays to hard rocks, and the method of excavation depends on the type of soil. When digging soft clays the New Austrian Tunneling method might be applied. When digging in weak rocks a tunnel boring machine (TBM) is often used. In hard rocks, blasting may be deemed most suitable, as in the Norwegian tunneling method. Various combinations of these methods and many others are also possible.
There are also several approaches to underwater tunnels, for instance an immersed tube as in Sydney Harbour.
Construction
Cut-and-cover is a simple method of construction for shallow tunnels where a trench is excavated and roofed over. Strong supporting beams are necessary to avoid the danger of the tunnel collapsing.
Shallow tunnels are often of the cut-and-cover type (if under water of the immersed-tube type), while deep tunnels are excavated, often using a tunnelling shield. For intermediate levels, both methods are possible.
Tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) can be used to automate the entire tunneling process. There are a variety of TBMs that can operate in a variety of conditions. One type of TBM, called an earth-pressure balance machine, can be used deep below the water table. This pressurizes the cutter head with either fluid or air in order to balance the water pressure. As a result operators of the TBM must go through decompression chambers, much like divers. The biggest TBM built was operated to drill the fourth tube of the New Elbe Tunnel in Hamburg. Its diameter is 48 ft (14.2 m).
Choice of tunnels vs. bridges
For water crossings, a tunnel is generally more costly to construct than a bridge. However, navigational considerations may limit the use of high bridges or drawbridge spans when intersecting with shipping channels at some locations, necessitating use of a tunnel. Examples of such tunnels include the Holland Tunnel and Lincoln Tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan Island in New York City, and the Elizabeth River tunnels between Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia.
Examples of tunnels
The oldest
- Sapperton Tunnel on the Thames & Severn Canal in England, dug through hills, which opened in 1789, was 3.5 km long and allowed ship transport of coal. Above it runs the Sapperton Long Tunnel which carries the "Golden Valley" railway line between Swindon and Gloucester.
- Box Tunnel in England, which opened in 1841, was the longest railway tunnel in the world at the time of construction. It was dug and has a length of 2.9 km.
- The Thames Tunnel, built by Marc Isambard Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened in 1843, was the first underwater tunnel and the first to use a tunnelling shield.
- The Cobble Hill Tunnel and Murray Hill Tunnel in New York City are the world's oldest railway tunnels lying below streets, roofed over in 1850 and the 1850s, respectively.
- The oldest sections of the London Underground were built using the cut-and-cover method in the 1860s. The Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City, Circle and District lines were the first to prove the success of a metro or subway system.
See also the History of Rapid transit.
The longest
- A new St. Gotthard Rail Tunnel with a length of 57 km (36 miles) is currently under construction.
- The Seikan Tunnel in Japan is the longest rail tunnel in the world at 53.9 km (33.4 miles), of which 23.3 km (14.5 miles) is under the sea.
- The Channel Tunnel between France and England under the English Channel is the second-longest, with a total length of 50 km (31 miles), of which 39 km (24 miles) is under the sea.
- The Lærdal Tunnel in Norway from Lærdal to Aurland is the world's longest road tunnel, intended for cars and similar vehicles, at 24.5 km.
- The St. Gotthard Tunnel from Göschenen to Airolo in Switzerland, opened on September 5, 1980, is the world's longest highway tunnel at 16.32 km (10.14 miles).
- The North Cape Tunnel in northern Norway, connecting the island of Magerøya with the mainland, was the world's longest undersea road tunnel when opened in 1999, at about 7 km. It reaches a depth of 212 m below sea level.
Notable
See also
External links
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