Workers take over two years to drill just 156m ... and Yunnan tunnel is still not finished
Complicated conditions have hampered progress on what is seen as China’s most difficult tunnel project – it’s been under construction for nine years already
It’s been slow going for workers carving out a tunnel in mountainous southwest China – considered the country’s most difficult such project since it has taken some 26 months to drill just 156 metres, according to mainland media.
The 14.5km Dazhushan tunnel on a railway line linking Dali in Yunnan province with Ruili, a city on the border with Myanmar, has been under construction for nine years and it’s still not finished, news outlet Peoplerail.com reports.
The rail link crosses the Hengduan Mountains and more than 40 tunnels will have to be built. The geological and hydrogeological conditions around Dazhushan, in Yunnan, are complicated and staff have faced many difficulties to do with ventilation, transport, water and electricity in the process of building the tunnel, the report on Friday said.