Located in China's Shaanxi Province, the Qinling Tunnel traverses the Qinling Mountains and is an important railway passage connecting Xi'an and Ankang. The tunnel consists of two basically parallel single-track tunnels with a distance of 30 meters, with an elevation of about 870 meters for the north entrance and 1,025 meters for the south entrance, and a height difference of about 155 meters at both ends of the tunnel.
With a total length of 18,460 meters, the Qinling Tunnel was once the longest railway tunnel in China. It traverses areas with complex lithologies, including mixed gneiss, mixed granite, and mixed granite with green minerals. During the construction process, the Qinling Tunnel was constructed by a roadheader, which was the first time in the construction of a railway tunnel in China. After many scientific research breakthroughs, the construction of the Qinling extra-long tunnel has raised the construction of tunnel engineering in China to a new technical level.
The Qinling Tunnel was officially started on January 18, 1995, and was fully completed on September 6, 1999, and the Xikang Railway was put into operation on August 18, 2000. Currently, the Qinling Tunnel has a speed limit of 80 km/h, providing a safe and convenient passage for trains between Xi'an and Ankang.
The opening of the Qinling Tunnel not only improves the operational efficiency of China's railway network, but also further improves the traffic pattern in the Qinling region, which is of great significance for promoting regional economic development and exchanges.
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